


A Whole New World

by The Muse of Apollo (mtwb)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cartoonish Villain, F/M, Movie Divergence, OOC, Snape Bashing, Who's the Genie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-10-10 15:40:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 27,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20530439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtwb/pseuds/The%20Muse%20of%20Apollo
Summary: Orphan Harry Potter meets a mysterious woman one day in Hogsmeade. That woman will change his life forever, and will finally allow him to know the past that has been kept from him for so long.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [HarmonyAtTheMovies](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HarmonyAtTheMovies) collection. 

> **Prompt:**
> 
> Aladdin (1992)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to vkitchen for looking this over for me, and thanks to AlexandraO for working through some problems I had in later chapters!
> 
> This was written very quickly and the editing on it has only been rudimentary at best, so there will be errors.

** **

**Prologue**

The night was unseasonably cold. The stars glittered above him as he rode his horse along the well-traveled path. The horse was lame, but he still had a few miles before he was in the city. The capital of Gryffindor, Hogsmede, was a bright spot on the horizon, just as it always was.

He liked visiting this particular kingdom. It was the largest of the four kingdoms of Britannia by far, it was the wealthiest, and it had the best ales, something that he always looked forward to. It was also the place where he had regained his freedom, something that even these many years later, he still cherished more than anything else in the world.

He still carried the lamp. It felt as if even now it was a part of him, but more, it was definitely a part of who he used to be. The story of it all still had the power to make him smile.

The two had been besotted with each other from the moment they set their eyes on each other. For the young boy, it was a chance at love that he had never felt before. For her, it was for a life that she had only ever read about in her books. Together...they changed the world, and they saved his life.

He knew that the love story of those two even now circulated through the Gryffindor Kingdom like it had happened yesterday. But years had passed. The story of love and heartbreak, of mystery and adventure, was one of the most well-told and beloved stories ever known in these parts.

He was one of the few, however, who knew the whole story. It began, as many stories do, on a cold, dark night, much like this one.

The thief was cowardly, and he smelled of the sewer. Snape sneered as he gazed down at the pitiful creature that he had been forced to do business with. But he was necessary. He didn’t have the contacts to find the other half of the ancient artifact, but Mundungus did.

“You have it?” Snape asked.

“Yes, ‘course I do. It took a bit of that gold you gave me...and I had to slit a few throats, but I got it.”

“Then give it to me.”

Snape took the solid gold piece from the thief and gazed at it longingly. His hands were steady, but inside, he was shaking. He had worked so hard for this, worked for so long to finally, finally see the cave that held the Gryffindor treasure. For the lamp. Yes, the lamp was really the only thing he needed. Three wishes and Snape would have everything he deserved.

With a flourish, Snape pulled out the second half of the artifact and placed the two parts together. Magic swirled around his hands and the artifact burst out of his hands and started flying at high speed, making Snape snarl in shock.

“Follow it!” he shouted. He kicked his horse savagely in the flanks causing the beast to start to run after the light that the magical artifact was leaving in its wake. Snape pushed the horse faster and faster, paying no attention to the thief who had gotten on his own horse and was following behind him.

Eventually, after what seemed like hours, Snape watched as the artifact split back into its two separate parts, and crashed violently into the ground, emitting wild sparks of golden magical energy. Nothing happened at first, and Snape feared that the artifact had self-destructed, but soon, the ground began to rumble underneath his horse’s feet. Snape hopped down from the saddle when the beast began to get nervous - he was not about to be thrown from his horse. Fletcher soon joined him, his eyes wide in wonder. It wasn’t surprising. Most people in their world had never seen magic such as this.

The shaking got significantly more violent. Snape watched in awed fascination as the ground rose up and took the form of a giant cave opening. Before the ground could stop shaking a giant griffin appeared in front of the cave, giving off golden sparks of magic as it spread its wings wide and prowled around in front of the cave. The griffin opened its mouth, displaying huge – and dangerous if Snape was any judge – fangs then it let out a huge roar. The beast seemed to breathe and growl for a moment before the mouth settled into a menacing snarl.

Snape turned to Fletcher. “It is time. Remember, the lamp is mine, the rest of the treasure is yours, but the lamp is mine. Remember what happened to the last person to betray me?”

The thief nodded quickly.

“Then don’t test me on this. Now go!”

Snape watched in glee as Fletcher tiptoed his way cautiously towards the giant magical beast. Before the man could step forward, the mouth moved, and shockingly began to speak.

“Who disturbs my slumber?”

“My name is Mundungus,” the thief answered courteously. The idiot, Snape saw, even bowed.

“Know this! Only one may enter here, one whose worth lies far within, a diamond in the rough!”

The thief looked back towards Snape, who sneered. “Well, what are you waiting for! Get on with it.”

Fletcher took a deep breath and stepped closer to the open maw of the cave. He took a very cautious step onto the steps that had formed leading deep down into the cave. Only the dimmest of lights shown from with in. Nothing happened, which caused Snape to grin. He was so close, so close to having the lamp in his grasp.

He was just about to shout at the idiot thief to hurry up when the magical cat roared and attacked Fletcher with its fangs and talons, no doubt killing the poor bastard. Snape shouted “No!” and turned his eyes away as bright sparks flared up into the sky, blinding him. The white ferret pet that he carried everywhere with him scurried into his robes, hiding away from the hideous sounds that the beast was making as it slowly devoured the idiotic thief.

Just before the light show settled down and the beast was no more, it’s voice sounded again in an ominous echo, “Seek out, the diamond in the rough.”

Then there was silence. Snape glared down at the two halves of the magical artifact that he had worked so hard to obtain. The lamp was still out of his reach, and it seemed almost an impossible task now that there was yet another requirement for entering the cave that held the one treasure he held most dear.

Draco, his pet ferret, scurried back out into the open. “Well, that was interesting.”

Snape snarled but said nothing. Draco had been his pet for many years, and his gift of speech had been something that Snape had both treasured and despised throughout those years.

“I wonder who this diamond in the rough is? And how, exactly, are you supposed to find him?”

Snape again said nothing. He was not in the mood for the ferret’s idiotic rambling and complaining. There was a method, however, that he had once read about. The question was, could he do it?

With a smirk, Snape spun himself up onto his horse. Yes, it would be done. He would find this diamond in the rough, and he would have his lamp. He would have his wishes.


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note This story is part of Harmony & Co's Harmony At the Movies: A Film Fest event. I am a procrastinator at heart, so this was written quick and dirty and is being put up only after the most rudimentary editing. Thanks again to vkitchen for looking this over for me, and thanks to AlexandraO for working through some problems I had in later chapters!

**Chapter One**

Harry grasped the bread in his hand to his chest as he ran faster. The city constables were not happy to see him, Harry just couldn’t understand it. He was always so nice to them, but they always chased after him with their swords drawn. With a grin, he spun around another corner, trusting Hedwig, who was flying overhead, to lead him to safety like she always did.

He ran past a few booths selling everything from fresh fish to fine jewels. The city was a maze of buildings and street booths that actually made it really easy to lose the constables that constantly gave him trouble. Harry knew the city like the back of his own hand, but with her perspective, Hedwig was able to scout ahead and make sure that Harry didn’t run into a trap. The constables weren’t idiots and often were able to get backup set up in front of Harry. More than once in his years on the street he had run into trouble in such a manner.

Harry crashed into a man selling scarves, which caused him to tumble down into a feathery pile of cloth. Getting out turned out to be quite difficult, as the scarves wrapped around him like vines. Luckily, the constables hadn’t seen him fall, and the pile of scarves kind of hid his whole body. The constables ran right past him. Harry grinned. Well, that was the most fortuitous fall he’d ever taken. Maybe if he ever had a gold piece he’d come back and buy a scarf.

With the grin still on his face, Harry finally extracted himself from the pile of cloth. The man who had been hawking them stared at him with a smile. “That was a close one, my friend. But now all my scarves are on the ground.”

“I am sorry, sir. I can help you put them back on the pegs if you like, but if the jack’s come back I’ll have to leave.”

“I understand.” Harry spent the next ten minutes helping the man he had run into. It was very unusual for a street vendor to treat Harry with kindness. Actually, it was odd for anyone to treat Harry with kindness.

Harry was fine with it, though. He had a place to stay and between him and Hedwig, he was able to steal enough to eat something most days. It wasn’t the life he dreamed of, but those were only dreams, and if there was one thing Harry knew for sure, life wasn’t anything like dreams. That was why he enjoyed the few times he'd been allowed in Hogsmeade's library. It allowed him to get lost in the worlds created by other people. Often times, Harry found those worlds much more preferable to his own.

After he placed the last scarf on one of the pegs he had knocked over, he said goodbye to the kind man and scampered off. Harry considered himself lucky that the jacks didn’t come back to find him helping the old man, but it seemed he had some luck today.

Hedwig flew down and landed on his shoulder, affectionately nipping at his ear.

“Hey, Hedwig. That was a pretty good getaway, eh?” He tore off a part of the bread he had worked so hard for and offered it to his owl. “Okay, let’s make our way back home. And then we feast!”

Harry laughed when Hedwig hooted, no doubt telling him that his idea of a feast was much more different than hers. On those days where he wasn't able to steal enough to eat, Hedwig would often bring him mice that she had managed to catch. Harry knew she meant well, and she always protected him, but he had never been hungry enough to actually try what Hedwig thought was a delicacy.

The trip throughout the city proper was easy. Harry stayed in the shadows of the buildings just in case the jacks came looking, but he didn’t actually see any of them. That was unusual. Normally he could spot at least one one the busier streets or alleys, but there were no bright red coats anywhere.

“Where did all the jacks go,” Harry asked Hedwig. The bird didn’t say anything back, of course, but she did take off from his shoulder, flying low so that he could follow her. She led him towards the main thoroughfare that led from the countryside straight to the castle gates. There were hundreds of people lined on either side of the cobblestone street. Harry leaned up on his toes to get a good look at what was going on, having to lean up to see over the taller men who were in front of him. It wasn’t all that unusual for things like this to happen, but Harry was always curious.

“Another suitor for the princess, then?” A man asked.

“Yes,” one of the men in front of Harry answered. “One day we will see if she chooses one.”

“She is pickier than her mother was,” the first man said snidely.

“Well, her mother didn’t have much of a choice did she?”

Harry stopped listening. He knew of the Princess Hermione of course. She was supposedly very beautiful, though Harry had never seen her or an image of her. The King’s only daughter had only rarely been seen in public, and when she had been, the crowds had made it very hard for Harry to get close.

The royals always fascinated Harry and had ever since he was a little boy. The thought of living in the castle where his every need was met was his fondest dream. He knew that it was unrealistic. Dreams didn’t come true. As the latest prince to seek the Princess’ hand trotted by on his bejeweled horse, Harry reminded himself that all you could do in life was work to live one day at a time.

Just as he was about to turn away with Hedwig back on his shoulder, Harry spotted two young girls, dressed in rags rushing towards the prince’s horse. When the youngest of the girls reached the horse, the horse reared up, causing the Prince to snarl.

“Get out of the way, you filthy animals!” The man shouted. He pulled out a horsewhip and made to whip the girls who were now both cowering in front of the horse. Before the whip could strike, Harry had moved in front of the girls and had taken the whip around his forearm.

He tossed the whip back at the prince, then turned towards the girls. “Run along now,” Harry said, softly. He knew there was likely going to be consequences for doing what he had just done, so he didn’t want the girls to be around for it. The two girls looked at him with wide eyes and they scampered off. Harry turned back towards the prince, who was now off his horse. Harry gulped.

“And just who do you think you are, getting in the way of just punishment?” The prince sneered. “You street rats are all the same, no respect for your betters.”

Harry tried not to, but he snorted. It was just kind of funny. Sure, the man in front of him was a prince, but to Harry, there was nothing more important than honor. And this man had none, prince or no.

“Why you little...” The man growled. He backhanded Harry with all his might, causing Harry to fall backward, not having expected the blow. The prince stood over him. “If I weren’t running late, I would teach you to show some respect. You’re nothing but a filthy animal, and that is all you’ll ever be. Now get out of my way.”

Harry scrambled back out of the way as the man climbed his horse and galloped past him. Harry wanted to talk back, to defend himself. But the prince was too far away, and Harry had already drawn too much attention. The red-coated jacks were all around him, having noticed the confrontation.

“Damn,” Harry muttered. He quickly got up and dashed through the crowd, once more running from the authorities. Hedwig flew on ahead, leading the way once more.

-:::-

Hermione hated being a princess sometimes. All she wanted was to be left alone with her books, but that was not to be. Instead, she had to meet man after man, one more arrogant than the last, all of them trying to earn her hand in marriage. Not because they loved her, but because they wanted to be King.

She hated it. If she ever married, she wanted to marry for love, but her father didn’t care. The King had declared that she must marry and that she must marry a prince. But, to Hermione’s dismay, there didn’t seem to be a single prince in Britannia that wasn’t full of himself or worse, downright abusive. She’d begged her father to let her choose someone else. Even a nobleman from here in Gryffindor would be better than one of the princes who had come to court her.

This latest prince was now gone. Padfoot had taken a bite of the man when he had tried to cop a feel. The pervert had quickly left after that, but Hermione knew that her father was not going to be happy with her.

“Hermione,” a voice called out. She was out in one of the many gardens of Hogwarts Castle where she had lived her whole life. “Hermione!”

“Out here, Father,” Hermione finally called back.

Hermione sat down on one of the many benches and scratched behind her wolfhound’s ears. Padfoot was her only friend.

“Why did Prince Fernandez leave so abruptly,” the King asked. “He did not seem happy.”

“Well, he shouldn’t have tried to feel me up then, should he,” Hermione said with a snarl. “Father, surely there is at least one prince out there who isn’t a perverted narcissist?”

The king sighed. “Hermione. I know this is hard for you, but you need to marry.”

“I’m aware of that, Father, but why must...no, it doesn’t matter. We’ve talked about this before.”

“The law says you must marry a prince, Hermione, and that you must marry by your next birthday. You’re aware of this. Please, for all that is holy, stop driving these men away. You must choose.”

“I want to marry for love, Father, is that so hard to ask?”

“Hermione...You know that isn’t possible for someone in your position. You are the heir to the throne of the most powerful Kingdom in all of Britannia. The man you marry will be your King. You must find someone who has the pedigree to take up that mantle. I won’t be here forever, and...” Her father looked away, looking much older than he usually did. Hermione swallowed against the guilt of making her father seem so burdened. “I need to make sure you are taken care of.”

Hermione wiped away a tear and looked down at her dog. Padfoot panted and looked at her sadly as if he understood the pain she was in. The pressure of being a princess was overbearing at times. Hermione wanted to do something with her life, but that wasn’t to be. It seemed as if all she was good for was to be married off to a powerful man who would steal her kingdom from her family, and use her to breed his heir. The sexist laws that made it impossible for her to rule the kingdom were infuriating, but maybe not as infuriating as the law that said she must marry before she turned 18 and that she needed to marry a prince.

Hermione sighed. She knew what she must do. She could not would not, comply with this law. It would be the death of her. Maybe if there was a prince out there who wasn’t a complete ass, she wouldn’t feel this way, but so far, every single one she had met had been unacceptable in some way. It wasn’t as if she was being too picky. She just wanted to at least like the person she married, if love wasn’t an option. She was a realist, and she knew the law couldn’t be changed so easily. Despite the power her father had, it wasn’t enough to change the law.

“I will arrange for someone else to come to call,” her father said. “Though I am running out of princes to call upon.”

Hermione watched as her father walked away. She’d do it tonight. Padfoot wouldn’t be able to come with her, but that was okay. She would go alone. Alone. She would always be alone. With that thought, Hermione broke down and started to sob.


	3. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note This story is part of Harmony & Co's Harmony At the Movies: A Film Fest event. I am a procrastinator at heart, so this was written quick and dirty and is being put up only after the most rudimentary editing. Thanks again to vkitchen for looking this over for me, and thanks to AlexandraO for working through some problems I had in later chapters!

**Chapter Two**

King Henry Granger was not a happy man. He could see the pain that his daughter was in, but he could do nothing to ease it. So after he made his way out of the garden, he moved to his private study and looked at the model that lay on the table. It was a small scale replica of Hogsmeade and was one of his more rewarding hobbies.

Maybe he could spend some time with it, take his mind off of the pain he was causing his little girl. After all, he couldn't change the law. The Council of Nobles were a great influence on his kingdom, and they had no wish for the Kingdom to fall into war and strife. So the law was created, with his blessing, to ensure that the man who ruled by his daughter's side would be able to handle the power that came with the throne.  


But it was going to ruin his relationship with his daughter, he could tell that. She had always been so stubborn. He tried to get through to her, but she was so much like her mother. That woman was more stubborn than a mule, and twice as mean.

Henry sighed and sat down at his hobby table. Before he could take up his tools, a knock sounded at the door.

“Come in,” he answered. “Ah, Severus, what brings you by?”

Severus Snape was his most trusted advisor. As the Hand of the King, Snape took care of a lot of the mundane tasks of administration along with organizing the King’s public schedule. Snape was good at the job, even if he wasn’t a people person. Snape had been Henry's only option for the position of Hand once the Potters had been killed off.  


“Your Majesty, I come with a solution to the Princess’s problem of seeking a suitor,” Snape opened up. He was never one to waste time.

“Really? What could you possibly do to get my daughter to choose a husband?”

“There...is a way...” Snape said hesitantly.

“Yes?” The King asked, annoyed. The man was playing coy, and that was irritating.

“It would require the use of the King’s Ring. The power held in the ring would allow me to perform a ritual that would find the most perfect mate that would suit our princess’s requirements.”

“My ring?” Henry asked. He hadn’t taken the ring off since his father had died. Henry knew that it was magical and that he shouldn’t ever take it off. His father had drilled that point into him. “I’m sorry, Severus, but that will not be possible.”

“Oh, well then, I guess we won’t be able to see if my solution will work,” Snape said sadly. He smoothed down the white fur on the top of Draco’s head. He moved his hand slightly and pulled out the gold pendant that he wore around his neck. The King had seen the necklace many times over the years that Snape had been serving him, but he’d never asked why the man was so attached to it.

Henry watched the green jewel on the pendant swing back and forth in Snape’s fingers. It was such a nice little jewel. He wondered if Snape would consider parting with the trinket, perhaps for some more servants of his own? Or maybe a title or two?

The King was so entranced by the jewel, that he didn’t even hear Snape requesting the King’s Ring once more, or the fact that he easily slipped the ring off his finger and handed it to the greasy-haired man.

Later, he wouldn't even realize the Ring had gone missing for a few hours, and he’d still be thinking about what he should do about Hermione’s continued reluctance to pick a suitor, completely forgetting that Snape had come to him with a solution.

-:::-

She snuck out between guard rotations. Hermione had known most of the guards her entire life, and she knew where they would be and when, so it was quite easy to sneak out between shifts. The wall that separated the palace gardens from the streets into the city was fairly low, so Hermione had easily scaled right over the top. She hadn’t packed much, just a small sack that she carried over her shoulder. It held her diary, her favorite book, a couple of changes of her most ‘normal’ clothes, a couple of flagons of water, and a few gold crowns.

She hoped that it was all she would need for a while.

With it being so late at night, she had decided that she would find a tree to kip under until the sun was shining. Hermione hoped that with a bit of luck she could be lost in the city by the time her Ladies noticed she was gone. She knew that what she was doing would cause a lot of problems, but she would not follow the law. It was just not something she was prepared to do.

Six hours later, Hermione walked through the Grand Market, grinning like a loon. She had never been to the main market before, and it was everything the books said it would be and more. Each and every stall had something new and fascinating for her to look at. The smells that wafted by her were oftentimes overwhelming to her sensitive nose, but she loved every bit of it. The best part, though, was the people.

There were so many people. Hermione was very good at arithmetic, but even she couldn’t count the number of people who walked from booth to booth, each with their own lives and their own mission for the day. What would they think if they knew that Princess Hermione was among them? Would they be shocked and awed? Would there be bad people, who she had always been warned about, there to hurt her?

Hermione didn’t want to find out. She loved being just another person in the crowd. It was easy for her to pretend that she was a simple commoner with simple needs and wants; someone working just to get by day by day.

Those were always her favorite types of novels. Those stories that were just about people living their lives and dealing with the everyday drama that came with being normal

That was really all Hermione wanted, was to be normal. Being a princess was great sometimes. The servants and all the books she could want were great things, but it was also a silk prison at times too. She couldn’t go to the markets or go see any of the great libraries of Gryffindor that she knew existed. Hermione wanted so desperately to see the sea, but again, she was told that it wasn’t her place to travel to such exotic places.

But most of all, all she wanted was to marry for love.

She didn’t think that was too much to ask. Hermione knew that she often romanticized life outside of the castle and that the realities were much harsher than she knew, but falling in love is something that everyone should have a chance for, including her. She just wished her father would see that.

Hermione had been so caught up in her brooding that she hadn’t been paying attention to where she was walking. It must have been a mountain that she had run into because it knocked her clear onto her backside. Luckily the scarf that she was using to hide her features stayed on her head, but her satchel wasn’t so lucky. The little bag rolled along the dirt street several feet away.

The Princess groaned as she got to her feet. First, she looked to see what exactly it was that she had run into. It turned out to be a cart that was holding several steaming strings of sausage. The cart had apparently been crossing from one side of the street to the other when she had barged into it head-on.

Hermione shook her head, trying to clear away the shock. She then turned and looked for her bag, which she knew was no longer on her shoulder. She spotted it a few feet away, but before she could get it, someone else snatched it up and began to run down the street.

“Hey!” Hermione shouted. “That’s mine! Thief!”

Everyone around her looked at the fleeing scoundrel, but nobody moved to help. Hermione felt tears prick at the sides of her eyes as she pushed through the crowd, trying desperately to reach the person who was quickly making away with all of her possessions.

The thief was fast, however, and he quickly outpaced the Princess. Hermione kept shouting, hoping that someone, anyone, would come to her aid and get her bag back.

Just as the thief was about to turn a corner and disappear from her sight, someone tackled the man from behind. Hermione watched in stunned silence as a young boy wrenched her bag from the thief’s hands and then clobbered him over the head with the bag.

The boy stood up and started walking towards her. Hermione found herself mesmerized by the sight of him. He was about her height, he had shockingly messy raven black hair, and was very handsome. The part that had her attention though, was the blazing green eyes that were getting closer by the moment.

“This is yours, yes?” The boy asked as he came to a stop in front of her. Hermione just nodded and took her pack. She gasped at the shock she felt when her fingers brushed the boy’s hand.

“T-thanks,” she stuttered. Hermione blushed, unsure why she was so embarrassed.

“You’re welcome. Are you new to the market?”

“I...I’m visiting for the first time, yes,” Hermione said softly, slinging her pack back over her shoulder.

“Well, I’m glad I was able to help. I should be going now.”

“Wait...I don’t even know your name!”

The boy smiled. “I’m Harry.”

Harry walked away reluctantly from the pretty girl. She might have had a scarf over her head, but he could still see her features just fine. The high cheekbones and the cute nose made her very pretty, but those eyes...those eyes were going to haunt his dreams, he just knew it.

He had thought about offering to show her around, but then he quickly remembered who he was. He was Harry, homeless orphan, street rat. No one who looked like her and dressed in obviously expensive clothes would want to be near him. Nobody really wanted to know him. Harry was used to it, but this time it hurt just a little bit more, and he wasn’t sure why.

The black-haired boy had only made it about a dozen steps when he heard his name being called. That was unusual because no one knew his name. Usually, when he was being called out on the streets of the Grand Market, it was ‘Hey, you!’ or ‘Get back here, boy!’ Never ‘Harry!’

Harry spun around, looking for the source when he came face to face with the girl he had just left behind.

Her scarf had come off in her haste to reach him, which made his breath catch in his throat. Harry had thought that she was beautiful, but seeing the full view of her face brought it to a whole new level. She was gorgeous beyond all words.

“Why didn’t you stop?” She asked, panting.

Harry shook his head to bring thoughts back into his head. “I’m not used to people shouting out my name in the market,” he explained.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

They stood there just looking at each other for several moments before Harry asked, “Did you need something? I can help.”

“I...I really just...can...could you show me around the city? I’ve never actually been here before, and I don’t really know my way around.” Harry watched as she blushed prettily, obviously embarrassed by her stuttering. He didn’t mind, though. He thought it was cute. Then he shook those thoughts away, knowing that they were inappropriate.

“I can if you’d like. I’m not sure I’m the best person you could find to do it, though,” Harry said, scratching the back of his neck.

“I’d really like that, thank you,” Hermione said. “I'm sure you'll do just fine. Where will we start?”

“Well, let’s start here in the markets actually. Then we can go closer to the castle. There are some more high-end shops there that you might enjoy.” Harry blushed. “They don’t like me much in that part of town, so I won’t be able to go in.”

Hermione walked closer to him and touched his elbow. “Why don’t they like you? I mean I’d assume the shops wouldn’t want to alienate their customers.”

Harry blushed and turned away. “I don’t really have a home, and most people aren’t really accepting of well...people like me.”

“You’re homeless?” Hermione asked, shocked.

“No! I mean kind of? I have a place where I stay, but it’s not really a home. Just a place.” Harry’s tone was defensive and he didn’t like it. He couldn’t help it that he was an orphan and that he had no place of his own, but it also wasn’t this girl’s fault.

“Oh. Well, I mean...” Hermione said awkwardly. She had never met a homeless person before. It made her sad to think that while she was living in the lap of luxury, this boy had spent his time by himself on the streets.

“It’s okay,” Harry said after a moment. “I get by. Now come on, let’s get on with your tour.”

Harry led her through the market, hitting the high and low points. They talked a lot as well. Harry learned that her name was Hermione, but he couldn’t get her to tell him where she was from. The two times he asked, she had quickly changed the subject.  


“Is that guy really going to eat fire,” Hermione asked. They were walking through one of the busiest city squares, a place that was always busy because the street merchants competed for the most prime spots. Harry came here often because one of the buildings housed a wonderful bakery that often had scraps that they threw out. He and Hedwig had often eaten like royalty from those scraps.

“Yeah. He says it's a magic trick, but really it’s just an illusion,” Harry answered as they watched the man slowly lower the burning stick to his mouth. This type of entertainment was quite popular in different places in the city. The performers would do their thing and collect tips. Harry had once wished that he had such talent as some of the performers made quite a lot of gold from their talents.

“An illusion? You mean like one of those fake magicians?”

“Yeah. That guy doesn’t have any real magic, it’s just a show.”

Hermione stayed silent and watched in awe as the man burped out a puff of smoke after swallowing the fire. Harry watched her. She was so pretty and the more time he spent with her, the more smitten he was becoming. He’d never felt this way about a girl before. He hadn’t really had the opportunity to get close to a girl to feel something like it, so he wasn’t surprised. But it felt nice. For a moment he really wished he could take her hand, but he was sure that she wouldn’t welcome such forwardness.

Once they were done watching, they moved on to several other points in the city. Harry showed her where the city government was located – though Hermione had already known that building, not that Harry knew that – and he showed her some of the highest peaks of the city so that she could see the views.

Finally, he said, “Would you like to see where I stay? It has some wonderful views.”

Hermione smiled. “I’d love to.”

Harry grinned and took her hand without thinking. Hermione blushed but didn’t say anything as he started to lead her down an alleyway. “So what do you do for fun?” She asked, trying to ignore how nice it felt to hold his hand.

“I sneak into the library,” Harry said with a grin. “There’s a city library about three blocks from where I stay. The librarian is nice and ignores the fact that I don’t have a home as long as I don’t take the books out of the library or make any trouble.”

“You like to read?” Hermione asked, a big smile on her face.

“Yeah. I taught myself when I was a lot smaller. Well, I mostly taught myself. I met someone who taught me my letters and a few words.”

“That’s really awesome. I love to read. The C-the place where I am staying has a huge library and that’s where I spend most of my time.”

The pair talked for several minutes about the books they had read, never once thinking about letting the other’s hand go. Harry led her through the city and eventually into an old dilapidated building that he’d found when he was quite small. There were other homeless people who lived in the building at the time, but now it was just him. He had, after a while, claimed the top floor all to himself. No one else wanted it really since the walls were falling apart.

But Harry thought it was perfect. It might get a bit cold in the winter, but the views...the views were amazing.

“This is where you live?” Hermione asked as they came out of the stairwell on the top floor.

“Yup, home sweet home!” Harry exclaimed with mock sincerity. Then he said seriously, “It’s not all bad. I mean it’s not the fanciest of places, but it’s better than many alternatives. And as I said...” Harry trailed off and led her further into the single room that encompassed his home. “It has wonderful views.”

Hermione gasped and looked out onto what could only be Hogwarts Castle, or more accurately, the place where she had called home her entire life. The view that Harry seemed so proud of was a view of her home. The home she was trying so hard to get away from. She couldn’t help the sound of dismay that came out of her mouth.

Hogwarts truly was beautiful, and she could see why Harry would like the view from his home. But it wasn’t that great a view for her. It seemed even as she was trying to get as far away as possible from Hogwarts, it wouldn’t let her go.

“I’ve always wanted to live there, you know,” Harry said, oblivious to her thoughts. “It would be so nice to be able to live without worrying about food, and to have servants and security.”

“I’m sure that’s a great way to live,” Hermione said sarcastically. She tried to keep her tone even, but she hadn’t thought it was a great way to live at all. Sure she didn’t have to worry about food or shelter, but she had been a prisoner of birth – never being able to be free to do the things she wanted to do. She couldn’t even marry for love. Instead, she had to find some stuffed up arrogant moron, who would probably not know how to spell anything besides his name, and marry him, all because of a stupid, stupid law. But she couldn’t very well tell her new friend about that. To him, she was just a girl he met in the markets, someone from abroad who didn’t know her way around the biggest city in Gryffindor.

“Yeah,” Harry said dreamily. “What about you? Do you ever wish you could live somewhere else?”

“All the time,” Hermione said, sitting down on a beat-up looking  settee that sat looking out over the city and the castle. “All the time.”

“Is it not a nice place?”

“It’s a nice place, but...but...My father is dictating that I must marry to suit the family,” Hermione said, trying to come up with a story that wasn’t a lie but wasn’t the full truth. “I don’t want to marry any of the men my father has deemed acceptable so...so I ran away. I just felt like a prisoner. It might have been a nice place, and I didn’t have to suffer the things you’ve no doubt had to go through, but I...I couldn’t do what my father wanted me to do.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be burdening you with my problems. Tell me, how did you get an owl to be your companion?”

Harry grinned, happy to talk about his only friend.

The two talked for several hours, neither noticing that over the course of their conversations, they had drifted closer to each other on the settee. They were also holding hands again. After a while, their conversation drifted off, and they just sat there looking at each other. Hermione wanted to kiss him. The thought frightened and excited her. Not once in all her years had she wanted to kiss someone. Sure she had thought about how she would receive her first kiss, who she would make love with for the first time, but she didn’t think that either of those situations would be a happy event for her. She had known about the law for a long time, after all.

But here was her chance. She really liked Harry. He was cute, and well-read despite having raised himself, and more, he liked her for her, not because she was a princess. Hermione didn’t care that he was poor or that he was homeless. Well, she did, but only because she was sad for him, not because they changed the way she saw him.

She leaned forward quickly and pressed her mouth against his. She had meant it to just be a peck on the lips, nothing extravagant or romantic in any way. But the moment her lips touched his, Hermione knew that this was what she wanted. Sparks shot through her body and a moan escaped her mouth. She wanted more, especially when Harry had gotten over his shock and started to kiss her back.

It was magical and everything she had never had the courage to dream her first kiss could be. So of course, it had to be ruined when the door to the stairway burst open and five city guards rushed into the room, shouting and waving their swords around.

Hermione jumped out of Harry’s arms and looked at the men who had just barged into the best thing that had ever happened to her.

“Arrest him!” The largest man said snidely.

“Hey, what for! I didn’t even do anything this time!” Harry shouted as he was manhandled out of the sofa and into shackles.

“We have our orders, don’t we boys?” The guard said with a laugh.

“Unhand him!” Hermione shouted.

“Oh, and would you lookie here! You’re a nice bit of fluff, aren’t you sweetheart,” The guard said with a leer.

“I demand you release him!”

“And who do you think you are?” The man asked, stepping closer.

“I am the Princess!” Hermione shouted, removing the shawl that had been over her head since she had left the castle.

“The princess,” The guard asked shocked. He immediately kneeled, and his fellows followed suit. Harry looked at her, his eyes wide. Hermione ignored him and focused on the main guard.

“You will release him, by my order.”

“I am sorry, Princess, but we cannot follow that order. I’m afraid we have orders from His Hand to bring this boy into the castle. You will have to take the matter up with him.”

Hermione’s eyes narrowed but said nothing as they dragged Harry out of the room. Oh, she would be having a conversation with that snake Snape. She had never liked him, and now he had crossed the line for the last time.


	4. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to vkitchen for looking this over for me, and thanks to AlexandraO for working through some problems I had in later chapters!

**Chapter Three**

She hadn’t thought that she would ever be back here. Hogwarts Castle had been her home for her entire life, and really just hours before she had left to get away from a fate she wanted no part of. During that time she had seen the city that sat just outside the Castle gates and she had fallen in love. It seemed odd to fall for someone so fast, but it felt like she had known Harry forever and she wanted that feeling back. She wanted him back.

Hermione stalked into the offices of the King’s chief advisor and pounded on the man’s door. It wasn’t long before the greasy-haired, beak-nosed man was standing in front of her, looking surprised. Then he answered with his typical sneer, “Can I help you,  _ Princess? _ ”

“You can tell me why you had that boy arrested in Hogsmeade today, and you can release him immediately!” She shouted.

Snape looked unimpressed, but she saw a brief look of interest pass across his dead black eyes. “I’m afraid I cannot do that, Princess. The boy has already received his sentence, I’m afraid.”

“His sentence? For what? He didn’t do anything!”

“He was charged and convicted for kidnapping the princess, of course,” Snape said with a little smile. “I see you were returned safely. I will be sure to commend our brave city guard for returning you to the place where you belong. Now if that will be all, Princess, I have work to see to.”

Snape went to close his office door, but Hermione stuck her hand out to prevent it from closing. “I ran away, you fool. Harry didn’t kidnap me. Now have him released!”

“Oh my. I’m afraid I cannot do that. You see his sentence has already been carried out, as I said.”

“Sentence?”

“Death, I’m afraid.”

Hermione gasped and fought the tears that had appeared suddenly in her eyes. Death. She hadn’t...she’d only just met him! And he was gone? She turned on her heel and rushed away from the man who had just stolen her one chance at freedom. Hermione completely missed the satisfied smirk on Snape’s face.

-:::-

Harry wished that they hadn’t made the shackles so tight. Surely they weren’t afraid he was going to escape. He’d been blindfolded for the trek to what was surely a dungeon below Hogwarts. While he hadn’t been able to see the route that he had been taken, it had been long and he was sure that even if he could get out of the damn dungeon, he’d be hopelessly lost once he got through the door. Harry was sure that he would be immediately caught. So it didn’t make sense for the shackles to be so tight.

_ This sucks, _ Harry thought. He’d just gotten his first kiss and now he was in chains waiting for what had to be a Guillotine (if they even bothered, it would probably be just as easy to use a sword). The worst part was not knowing what he was going to die for. If he’d been caught stealing, that would make sense. Harry would be the first to admit that he stole quite a lot – mostly food since he was often hungry. But it didn’t seem that he had been arrested for any of his actual crimes, and that bugged him. But really what was bothering him was that he’d kissed the princess.

Princess Hermione was probably the most well-known person in all the land after the king. She was renowned for her beauty and intelligence. And he hadn’t recognized her – despite her having given him her real name, there weren’t that many Hermione’s in the land – and then had proceeded to bring her to his rickety home and snog her. She was probably disgusted that she had even thought of kissing such a man like him. Why would the Princess of Gryffindor want to be with someone like him? And besides, he was positive that he’d caught somewhere that she was going to be forced to marry a prince.

There was one thing Harry knew for sure. He was no prince.

But what a kiss! Harry was sure that he was never going to see Princess Hermione again, which was sad, but at least he’d gotten to kiss her once. That was enough to make him go to his death with a smile on his face. Hermione was wonderful! So pretty and bright too, and she seemed to like talking to him. Other than Hedwig, Harry didn’t talk to anyone that often. The only place he ventured outside of his haunts for stealing food was the library and he could only go there so often. And you don’t really talk to anyone when you’re at the library.

Hermione had been so fun to talk to, and she didn’t seem to care that he was homeless or that he didn’t know his full name or that he didn’t have two gold pieces to rub together.

Before he could dream more about the lovely princess, a loud hoot came from overhead. Harry looked up just in time to see Hedwig flying into the dungeon from one of the barred windows. He grinned. It was nice to see his friend once more. Harry grinned even wider when she dropped something golden in his hand.

His lovely girl had gotten him a key. With some dexterous movement from his hands, he was able to free his wrists which had been pinned above his head. Harry rubbed them together, trying to bring feeling back into his hands.

“Thanks, girl. You are, as always, the most awesome friend a guy could ask for,” Harry said, stroking Hedwig’s front feathers. “Now we just need to find a way out of here. Got any ideas for that, oh wise one?”

Hedwig barked and stared at him sternly. She hated it when he mocked her. Harry laughed then stood up. “Well, we’ll just have to see what we can find. I’m sure I’ll just get caught, so make sure you take the key. We might have to try this again.”

Harry made his way over to the door and looked out the small window that was cut out of the top half. It had bars over it, but he could make out the light of several torches – and, yes, sure enough, a guard sat snoring on the other side of the door.

Harry sighed. There was no chance of sneaking past a guard who was that close to the door, at least not without some kind of weapon.

He looked around the rest of the dungeon, but there was nothing. The windows were much too high to be of use, even if he could fit through the bars as Hedwig could. She was quite adept at getting into tight spaces. As she had proven with the key, she had a clever way of picking pockets too, which is something they’d used to their advantage many times. She’d just swoop down, steal what she wanted and then bring it back to him. It wasn’t stealthy, but it worked often if she had surprise on her side.

Hedwig was awesome.  _ Too bad she can’t do magic and get us out of here,  _ Harry thought. With a sigh, he went back to the wall he had been held prisoner against and sat down on the floor. He wasn’t getting out of the dungeon without some sort of miracle.

“Well, Hed, it looks like I’m stuck here. You should make yourself scarce though. No telling what they would do to you if they knew you had brought me that key. I’ll keep thinking about a way out.”

Hedwig looked at him sadly then shook her head. “Yeah, Hedwig, go. It’s going to be okay. I’ve been in tighter spots. I’ll be okay.”

Harry knew he was lying to his friend, and she was smart enough to know that. But he didn’t want to see her hurt, not when she could easily get herself free. She gave him one last look and then took flight, flying out of the window above him.

“Goodbye, girl,” Harry whispered. He hung his head and tried to fight the tears that were threatening to fall down his cheeks.

“There is a way out, you know,” a voice said from the shadows. Harry’s head snapped up and he looked around blindly. He rubbed the tears out of his eyes and looked harder. The room was no longer empty. In the corner where most of the shadows dwelled, an old man sat on the floor. He definitely hadn’t been there when Harry had walked around the dungeon just minutes before.

“Who are you?”

“My name matters not, boy, but I can help you. You seem to be resourceful, and I could use some of that for myself. There is no sense in seeing a young man such as yourself waste away in a dungeon, or worse, see his head cut off.”

“What are you talking about,” Harry asked, standing up. “What do you want?”

“I want to help you, boy. You see there is a way out of here. If I show it to you, I would need your help with a small...adventure. An adventure that could see you rich beyond your wildest dreams, a treasure that could perhaps be used to woo that princess that you’ve thought so fondly of.”

“How did you know that? What adventure?”

The man ignored his first question and answered the second. “There is a cave boy, a cave of wonders. I need a pair of good legs to go in and retrieve an object for me. The rest of the treasure is yours but the object...is mine.”

“What object?”

“I shall tell you on the way,” the man said mysteriously. “Do we have an accord?”

Harry sighed. He didn’t trust this man. He seemed shady, but Harry knew he didn’t have much choice in the matter. Perhaps once he was out of the castle he would be able to ditch the old man somewhere and then hightail it out of Hogsmeade.

Harry nodded his agreement and then gasped when the old man seemed to vanish through a wall. The man poked his head back through and said, “Well, come on then. We need to go before the guards check on you.”

With another deep sigh, Harry followed the old man through what seemed to be a solid brick wall. This was going to be interesting. He just hoped that he was safer with the man than he had been in the dungeon.


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

Harry hadn’t ever ridden on a horse before, though he had obviously seen it done many times and had read about people who rode horses all the time. It turned out reading and watching it was much different than doing it. By the time he and the old man had gotten out of Hogsmeade and into the Forbidden Forest, Harry’s bum was hurting and his back was sore. When they finally came to a stop and Harry fell off the horse’s back, he was vowing to never ride a horse again in his entire life.

“Now, it’s quite easy, boy. The object I’m looking for is a lamp. It should be gold, with a handle and it’s unlikely you’ll see anything else like it once you make your way inside. Bring me the lamp, and I will let you have your freedom and any treasure you find. Bring me the lamp first!”

“What’s so special about this lamp?” Harry asked. “Is it dangerous?”

“No, boy, and it is just a family heirloom that I would very much like back. Now, let me reveal the chamber.”

Harry watched in awe as the man pulled two glowing pieces of gold out of his pocket and placed them together like fitting two pieces of a puzzle together. The glow intensified and gave off many colors of what could only be magical energy. The now single piece of gold flew out of the man’s hand and burst forward into the ground just feet away from where Harry was standing. He jumped back when the ground began to rumble.

Only moments later, a giant chamber was before him. A magical griffin appeared before them, guarding the cave.    


“Now, off you go. Remember, bring me the lamp, and you shall have your reward!”

Harry glanced at the crazy old coot one last time and then took a cautious step towards the opening of the chamber.  As he got closer he could tell that the cave opening led to a steep set of stairs.  They didn’t look like they’d be all that fun to climb down, but the man who had brought him here was definitely not going to take no for an answer, and Harry had noticed the wicked-looking sword the man carried with him. Harry knew the man was old, but age didn’t really matter much when you had a sharp pointy piece of metal stuck through you.

Before he could take a step into the mouth of the chamber, the animal that guarded the entrance roared. Harry jumped back, scared out of his mind. He had read about griffins before, and while he knew that they were real animals, he’d never read about anyone who had encountered an angry one and lived to tell the tale.

“Who are you, little man,” the griffin spoke. Harry looked at it in wonder. He hadn’t known that griffins could talk.

“I...I am Harry, Harry,” Harry stuttered out.

“And what is it that you wish of me, Harry?”

“I am on a quest for a lamp that is in your chamber,” Harry said, gaining a bit of confidence, now that the griffin hadn’t attacked right away.

“It’s always the lamp,” the griffin muttered. “They never want anything more interesting than that blasted lamp.”

Harry would have laughed if the situation hadn’t seemed so dire.

“Very well. The chamber I guard is sacred, and can only be entered by those I deem worthy. I see great courage and honor in you, little man. You are more than you appear, so you may enter. But know this. The lamp is all that you may retrieve. The treasure that lies within is for those who have no use for that bloody lamp. Do not touch any of the other treasure or the chamber will punish you.”

Harry gulped but nodded. He didn’t like the sound of a chamber that could punish him for accidentally touching the wrong thing. Harry stepped forward cautiously, with the griffin eyeing him with a glint in its eye. Harry jumped a bit when Hedwig landed on his shoulder, but otherwise, he kept creeping forward.

A few minutes later, Harry stepped off of the last step and into a giant cavern. It was empty, which was disappointing given all the build-up. But there was a large archway that led elsewhere, which Harry decided was the direction he needed to go. There were torches on the wall, each glowing with an eerie light flicking this way and that. The entire place was giving him the creeps, but he needed to get this done, get the old coot his lamp and get as far away from Hogsmeade as possible.

The archway led into a small corridor and then into a huge cavern that was lit up as bright as the summer sun. Mountains of gold, silver, and gemstones were in front of Harry as he exited through another archway. Harry could feel his jaw drop at the sight of the treasure in front of him. He doubted anyone had ever seen so much wealth in one place before. He wondered why the old man wanted a lamp instead of the gold? What could be so special about a gold lamp in comparison to what must be more gold than even the King of Gryffindor had? It didn’t make any sense.

Harry looked at Hedwig and he could tell that she was in just as much awe as he was. He could also tell that she really wanted to go grab some of that gold for herself. “We can’t touch anything other than the lamp, Hed. I really don’t fancy getting punished by this bloody cave or that giant griffin at the entrance.”

Hedwig nodded reluctantly, but Harry vowed to watch her. She was a sneak thief and there was no stopping her even in the most normal of circumstances. She had always been very protective of him, ever since he was a small boy. Harry knew she hunted on her own, and that she ate well, but she also helped him steal enough to eat. It was like she felt it was her duty to make sure he survived. Harry knew he could never repay her for all she had done for him.

So he wasn’t naive enough to think that if she were given a chance, that she wouldn’t try to pick up some of this gold for their use.

Once Harry had gotten over his awe, he started to walk forward. There were paths etched out between the piles of gold and silver, but Harry could tell that he was quickly going to be lost unless there was some sort of sign or map.

For what must have been an hour, he and Hedwig made their way through the maze of treasure. Hedwig flew off every now and then, but even she couldn’t tell which way they were to go to find the lamp. The room was simply too big. Before long, they were both hopelessly lost. Only the presence of Hedwig made Harry keep going. He knew that she could easily get him back to the archway that he had entered through. Or at least he hoped that she could.

Not that going back was an option. Surely the old man was still sitting out there on his horse waiting for Harry to come back with some stupid lamp. The longer he was in the chamber, the more eager he was to leave. Sure there was a lot of loot around him, but none of it was his, nor could he easily swipe any of it. On top of that, the entire place was creepy. Many times Harry felt as though he was being watched. He even went so far as to look over his shoulder many times, but there didn’t seem to be anything really watching him. The feeling was real, though.

“We’re going in circles,” Harry said eventually. “Are you sure you can’t see anything from up high?”

Hedwig did the owl version of a shrug and then took off once more. Just as she flew out of sight, something tapped Harry on his shoulder causing him to jump several feet into the air.

He spun around and noticed that there was an elegant carpet literally standing up behind him. It waved at him. Waved at him. Harry blinked back and then laughed out loud. It was a magic carpet.

“Well, hello there. Are you the one who has been watching me then?” Harry asked, relieved. The carpet obviously didn’t answer, but Harry could somehow tell that the carpet was sheepish at having been caught. “That’s okay, carpet. Hey, do you think you could lead me to wherever this special lamp is? My friend and I have been exploring for a long time and we haven’t found it yet.”

The carpet looked excited for a minute and then swept Harry off his feet and into the air, leaving the mountains of treasure below him. Harry laughed when Hedwig saw him up in the air, squawking at him as he and the carpet outflew her. Hedwig caught up a second later and landed on his shoulder. She pecked at his ear angrily, but he just grinned at her. “I got a new ride, Hed, isn’t it great?”

Hedwig just turned her head away from him, which just made Harry laugh again. A few minutes later, the carpet flew them through an archway that must have been many miles away from the entrance to the chamber. The corridor was much darker, and there were giant rock spikes along both walls. Harry didn’t like the looks of those spikes.

The corridor emptied into another giant chamber. This one had spires of rock littered along all the walls, and instead of a floor, there was a large underground lake that spread out encompassing the entire chamber except a large pile of rocks directly in the center of the water. On top of those rocks, a single light showed, glinting off a golden lamp.

The carpet flew him directly over the lake and landed at the bottom of the large pile of rocks. Harry didn’t notice that Hedwig had flown off of his shoulder, he was too entranced by the sight of the lamp. Something called out to him from that lamp, wanting him to take it. Harry scrambled up the rocks, never taking his eyes off of the lamp.

Harry didn’t know what was affecting him so, but he could almost feel the power radiating from the lamp. The rocks were slippery, and he lost his balance more than once, but that didn’t stop him. As he got closer to the lamp, the pull got stronger and stronger, almost as if he were destined to hold the lamp. Harry had just put his fingers around the lamp’s handle when he felt the chamber started to shake. The trance he had been in snapped and he spun around, almost losing his balance.

Hedwig loved shiny things. Harry had always known this. It often got them into trouble – trouble that they were quite adept at escaping from – and he didn’t really mind. The things she stole often came in handy and led to a much better life than he would have had on his own.

But not this time. His crazy bird friend had found something that she fancied, and she had apparently forgotten that they weren’t supposed to touch anything besides the lamp. He spotted a necklace hanging from her talons as she flew back towards him. Harry groaned. Dammit.

He grabbed the lamp and slid down the rock pile, ignoring the pain the rocks caused his back. The carpet met him at the bottom, thankfully, and they were soon in the air. The chamber around them was now shaking as if it were in an earthquake. Stones fell from the top of the chamber, and the snake statues were crumbling all around them. Harry glanced at Hedwig who landed on his shoulder. He glared at her, but she just ignored him, her eyes wide in fear. Even scared, she was prissy, Harry thought.

The carpet flew them at top speed through the corridor that led to the lake filled room. The spikes that were on the walls were getting closer and closer to one another, making it really hard for them to squeeze through. They just made it through and back out into the main treasure room before the two walls snapped together with a sickening crunch.

Harry sighed in relief. For a moment. And then he noticed the fire. “Faster, carpet!” Harry shouted. The fire scared the living daylights out of him. It wasn’t a normal fire. It seemed to take the form of many dragons and other magical creatures, each one getting larger and larger as he watched with wide eyes. The heat was unbearable, but the worst part was the creatures watching him and coming for him. As they got further into the treasure chamber, the fire beasts all turned their attention towards the flying carpet and roared in what Harry could only describe as complete and utter fury. They rushed towards him and Hedwig, making the heat intensify.

Harry screamed as a particularly ferocious manticore – at least he thought it was a manticore – came so close to the carpet that Harry could have reached out and touched it. The carpet swerved at the last moment, and they avoided being roasted once more. It took much longer than he had hoped for them to get them to the entrance that he and Hedwig had come in from.

Finally, they made it out of the treasure chamber and through the corridor back into the room that led to the entrance to the cave itself. The fire, for whatever reason, didn’t follow them through the corridor, which Harry was thankful for. There were other problems, however. The stairs were crumbling to dust in front of their eyes, and the mouth of the chamber was quickly closing. The carpet flew them quickly up to the top of the chamber and to the door. Unfortunately, before the carpet could get them through the door, a large rock fell from the ceiling, catching the rug and flinging Harry and Hedwig forward. Hedwig took off, her survival instincts keeping her from succumbing to the pull of gravity. She flew out of the chamber's mouth.

Harry fell. He managed to catch himself on a small ledge just below the entrance to the cave, where he clung for dear life. The old man appeared above him.

“Did you get it?” The man asked.

“Are you out of your mind? Help me up!” Harry screamed. The lunatic wanted to talk about the bloody lamp?

“Hand me the lamp boy, and I’ll give you your reward!”

Harry groaned, but managed to pull the lamp out of his tunic where he had managed to tie it earlier. With a shaky hand, he managed to hand it to the idiotic old man. Unfortunately, this led to him nearly losing his grip. “Help! Help you old fool!” Harry shouted.

The man didn’t hear him. He was too busy doing some sort of victory dance. Harry scrabbled at the rock, trying to regain his grip and pull himself up. He saw Hedwig flying up above the man, looking down on him in worry. He knew she couldn’t help him, there was no way she could pull up his weight. Harry cried out as his fingers slipped just a little bit more. This is it. This is how he dies. After years on the streets, fighting and stealing for food and shelter, he was going to die after going on a suicide mission for some man he didn’t even know, for something so insignificant that it should have just been left in the cave to rot.

Harry clenched his eyes shut, not noticing that the old man had knelt down in front of the chamber opening again. He felt something grab his wrist which caused his eyes to snap open. The man had grabbed his wrist and was pulling Harry up with all his might. It got to the point where the only thing that was keeping Harry from falling was the old man’s skinny arms.

Just as Harry was sure that he was going to be safe and that the old man was going to save his life. The man pulled his sword from its scabbard at his side. “It’s time for your reward boy!”

“No!” Harry yelled. This was so much worse. The man’s arm had just started to fall, when Hedwig dive-bombed from above, scratching at the old man’s eyes.

“Gah! You blasted bird!” Harry would have laughed if Hedwig’s attack hadn’t caused the old man to let go of Harry’s wrist, leaving Harry to fall back into the chamber's opening. The griffin who had been guarding the cave's opening was no longer there, something that Harry found odd to notice in the moments before he plummeted to his death. Harry didn’t notice that the old man had gotten himself free from Hedwig nor that the bird had managed to snag the lamp before she was flung fiercely into the chamber after her friend. The old man didn’t notice the lamp missing either.   



	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Harry wakes up slowly. He can’t remember what happened for the first few moments, but the view of the chamber around him reminds him of the moments he was falling. Underneath him, Harry can feel the carpet moving around. That’s when he remembers, vaguely, that the carpet had somehow caught him on his way down, breaking his fall, which had still been much too hard if the pain in his back is anything to go by.

With a groan, Harry props himself up, allowing the carpet to get out from under him. He watches warily as it rolls itself up and settles on the floor beside him. Harry then looks around and groans at the sight of the entryway above him being completely closed off.

“Well, I’m stuck. Wait, where’s Hedwig?” Harry looked around and saw his friend slowly getting to her feet. She looked frazzled, but he was happy to see her unfurl her wings without any pain. She had broken a wing once and that had not been a good experience at all. Harry had been sure she was going to die, and just the thought of that was devastating.

“You okay over there, Hed,” Harry asked. He groaned as he stood up, but was thankful that nothing felt broken. Hedwig flew gingerly to his shoulder and rubbed her head against his cheek. Harry grinned at her. “I’m thankful you’re okay, too. Now we just need to find a way out of here.”

That was when Harry noticed something. The lamp that had started this whole thing, along with the necklace that Hedwig had stolen, was lying on the ground near where he had landed. He looked at his white-feathered friend, and asked: “How on earth did you get the lamp?”

Hedwig didn’t answer, of course, but she looked smug. Harry grinned. She was seriously a great thief. How she got her talons on some things, he would never know. Harry bent down and picked up the necklace first. It was shiny, which explained Hedwig’s need to have it, but otherwise, it was unassuming as you could get. It was just a simple gold locket attached to a mithril chain. When Harry tried to open the locket, some kind of magic passed through him, shocking him to his core.

That was nothing compared to the shock of what was inside the locket. There were two images. On one side was a woman with stunning red hair, but that wasn’t the most striking thing about the woman, no. That would be her eyes. Those were the same eyes that Harry knew stared out from his own face. She had his eyes.

The bigger shock was the picture on the right. It was of a man who looked almost exactly like Harry. The only difference seemed to be the eyes, which were brown instead of green. Who were these people? Why did it feel like he wanted to clutch these pictures to his chest? It didn’t make any sense.

Harry struggled with his emotions for several minutes, just thinking about how he might be holding images of his parents wrecked him. When he finally pulled himself together, he managed to close the locket and put the chain around his neck. Harry sighed for a moment and looked at Hedwig who was looking back from him with sympathy. “Well, that was interesting, Hed. Let’s find out what is so special about this lamp, shall we?”

Harry leaned down and picked up the lamp. It seemed like an insignificant piece of junk. It was tarnished and dented, and the spout looked like it might have been completely sealed closed. Harry couldn’t get his mind around the idea that the old man who had trapped him here had gone to such lengths for junk when there was so much more interesting treasure in the chamber.

He squinted when he spotted something on the bottom curve of the lamp. “There looks like there might be something written here, Hed.” Harry rubbed at the smudge, trying to get a better look at whatever might be written. Before he could take a better look, the lamp began to vibrate and grow hot in his hands. Harry dropped it in shock. Hedwig hooted angrily down at it as if berating the lamp for scaring her friend.

The spout of the lamp started to spew large amounts of bright green smoke, causing Harry to cough and Hedwig to bury her face into her shoulder. When Harry was finally able to look around again without his eyes watering, the lamp had stopped spewing smoke and was lying still on the floor, but he and Hedwig were no longer alone in the cave.

“Master be summoning Dobby, sir?” a little green being asked. The little guy was short, only a couple feet tall at the most. He – Harry assumed that he was a he – was green-skinned and had giant gold bracelets on his wrists and a gold collar around his neck. Harry looked down on the creature in shock.

“What are you? Who are you?”

“I bes Dobby, Master, I am a genie!” Dobby said excitedly. “It be so nice to get out of the lamp. I’s not be out for so long!”

A genie? Harry laughed. “What you mean like a three wish-granting genie?” Harry laughed some more. There was magic in the world, everyone knew that. But Harry had never read anything about genies being real things. He’d only seen that in fiction.

“Yes, sir! You’ve heard the rules then? I’s be giving you three wishes, no more, no less. There’s be other rules, as well, sir! You cannot wish for true love, and I’s can’t be bringing anyone back from the dead. Others than that I’s can be doing anything fors you!” the little guy said, his big eyes shining with happiness and what looked like devotion.

Harry grinned. Dobby seemed like an alright bloke, though Harry had never met anyone like him before. But that didn’t mean that Harry was going to take him at his word. After all, anyone can do some cheap magic tricks and claim to be a genie. Besides, Harry knew from experience that nothing in life was without some sort of catch, and if it looked too good to be true, then it probably was.

“There are rules? On your magic? Limiting my wishes?” Harry asked in mock surprise. “Not much of a genie. Can’t even bring people back from the dead, pfft.” Harry turned to Hedwig. “We’ll probably even have to get ourselves out of this cave. The genie here probably has some rule against that as well.”

Harry knew he was goading the genie, but that didn’t matter. If it worked, then he wouldn’t have to spend one of his three precious wishes on getting himself and Hedwig out of their predicament. Not that he had a clue what he’d do with three wishes anyways. Material things didn’t matter to him. He never had anything to his name, and Harry didn’t really think that there was anything that he truly needed. Maybe some food for every day for the rest of his life? A home? He didn’t know.

Harry glanced down at the little green creature who was looking a little angry, which made him want to grin. Angry people did things without thinking.

“You’se mock Dobby?” the little guy asked. “You’se doubt my power? Well, I’s see that you not!” Dobby snapped his fingers, and suddenly Harry, Hedwig, and their carpet friend were all standing outside of the chamber, where the Griffin had stood guard before. Harry looked around and then patted himself, looking to see if all his limbs were still attached.

“Wow! Dobby that was incredible!”

Dobby looked smug, which Harry granted was an appropriate emotion. He’d never seen magic that could do that before. The magic of their world was small and contained, and those that had it often could do one thing with it very well and nothing else or else they had some sort of magical device that allowed them to do one thing well. This was totally different, and it made Harry really excited.

“I guesses you won’t be doubting me again, Master Harry.”

“No, I don’t think I will,” Harry said with a grin. “What about you, Hedwig? You doubt him now?” Hedwig shook her head back and forth with a gleam in her eyes. She knew what he was about to do. They were masters at tricking people, after all, and this one might be their best trick yet. “Now, about my three wishes...”

“I’m sorry, Master Harry, sir, but you onlys has two wishes left! After all, I just did get you out of the Chamber of Secrets!”

Harry grinned. “Uh-uh, you did that yourself, my little friend. I never said that I wished for you to do it.”

Dobby looked at him with shock written all over his little green face. His eyes got even wider, and his mouth dropped open comically. “You’se tricked me!”

Harry shrugged.

“Fine, then. Master Harry being a bad boy!”

Harry laughed. “Now, about my wishes.”

“Yes, yes, what your wishes, Master Harry,” Dobby said snidely.

Harry paused. What did he want? This was his chance, wasn’t it? His chance to get off the streets and not have to scrape and steal for every single morsel. But what did he wish for? Harry had dreamed of getting off the streets for his entire life. Often he simply wished for something to eat or for a warm blanket to shelter him from Gryffindor’s crazy winter climate.

“What would you wish for, Dobby?” Harry asked finally.

Dobby, who had begun floating in midair sometime during the time Harry was thinking, fell to the ground with a small thump. “Me?”

“Sure, you must have thought about it before.”

“I… I’s would wish to be free, Master Harry.”

“Free? What do you mean.”

“Genies are passed from one master to another, never free to choose for themselves. Worsewise, we’s being prisoners for all eternity. So, if I were able, I would wish to be free.”

Harry looked down in shame. Here he was looking for his next meal when he was already perfectly fine with what he had. Sure he didn’t live like the king, but he had enough to get by. It was enough.

“Is there a way to free you?” Harry asked.

“The only ways a genie can be freed is if his master wishes him free. There's not be many masters who would use one of their wishes to set a genie free.”

Hope sprang up in Harry. “I’ll do it, Dobby! I would hate to be a prisoner, and I will not let you continue to be one if I can help it.”

“You’se mean that?” Dobby asked, disbelief evident in his voice.

“Yes! Sure! Once I have done two wishes, I’ll use the third to free you. I promise.”

“Well...okay,” Dobby said cautiously. “Now, what be you’se first wish?”

Harry slumped down onto a nearby stump. His first wish. What should he wish for? All of a sudden Hermione’s face came into his mind. Princess Hermione, the girl who had kissed him just hours before – was it really only a few hours since he had his first kiss? – the girl who didn’t seem to care that he was a homeless orphan.

Could he wish to be with her?

“I...I have an idea...” Harry started. “There’s...this girl…”

“I be’s sorry, Master Harry. I’s can not be creating true love, you’s knows the rules!” Dobby exclaimed, looking apologetic.

Harry sighed. “Never mind, it was a dumb idea anyway. Hermione is so beautiful, and she deserves so much more than I could ever give her. And besides, she needs to marry a prince, and I am no prince.”

A prince. Harry grinned, now there was an idea. It was a dumb idea, but it could work. It was known throughout the kingdom that the Princess of Gryffindor could not marry for love, but would be forced by law to marry a prince, as she herself could not inherit the throne when her father died. Could he fool the system? It would be the greatest trick he ever played if it worked. And what would happen if he got caught?

Well, Hermione would hate him. That was probably the worst thing that could happen to him. Sure they might arrest him and put him to death, but they were already planning on doing that anyway, so nothing new there.

“Hey, Dobby, could you...make me a prince?”

Dobby narrowed his over-large eyes at Harry and then nodded. “I’s can be doing that, Master Harry. You’se be making a very handsome and wealthy prince by the time I’s be finished with you. Now is that your first wish? Say the magic words!”

Harry grinned. He liked the genie, the little guy had spunk. “Dobby, I wish you to make me a prince!”

Princess Hermione sobbed into her pillow. It felt like her entire world was over, and she knew that was silly and irrational, but she couldn’t help it. She’d met a very nice boy, had kissed him, and then gotten him killed all in a matter of a couple of hours. It felt like her only chance at true freedom had been taken away from her, and that made her miserable.

She had been crying for what seemed like hours, and she’s sure that she’ll be depressed about this for many days if not years to come. She might not have known Harry for very long – less than a few hours – but he had represented everything that she wanted for herself, and she...well, she was pretty sure that if she’d been given the opportunity, she could have fallen in love with him. Now Hermione knew, she would never get the chance to love him or anyone else for that matter.

Just as that dreadful thought passed through her mind, Hermione heard the door to her suite opening. She looked with tearing eyes as her father entered her room.

“Father?” Hermione whispered. It was odd for her father to enter her chambers. Usually, they said goodnight at the door or she said it to him while he worked in one of his studies. Hermione wiped her eyes, trying to clear her vision. There was something odd going on. Her father was walking stiffly and he wasn’t blinking at all. His eyes were odd too, looking as if he were sleepwalking instead of fully aware of what was going on around him.

“Hermione, love, I have wonderful news!”

“Father?” Hermione repeated. “What’s going on?”

“Well, as you are aware, you are just days away from your 18 th birthday, and you have still not chosen a proper suitor to comply with the marriage law. I’m sorry to say that with your time running out, I’ve had to make some very difficult choices on your behalf.”

“Choices, Father? I don’t understand? You told me I could choose.”

“And I had hoped that you would make your decision by now, dearest, but you haven’t found anyone who meets your standards yet. So I’ve had to choose for you.”

Hermione gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She had waited too long, and now the worst thing had happened. Her father as going to force her to marry someone of his choosing.

“Who?” Hermione whispered.

“Severus Snape has kindly offered to take your hand,” the King answered happily as if it were the happiest event that he could imagine. “This way it is someone you know, someone you trust!”

“No!” Hermione all but shouted. “I won’t do it!”

Her father was just about to respond when someone knocked on the doorframe. The door had been left open when her father entered. Hermione drew her housecoat around her and frowned at the servant who entered the room. It was one of her father’s assistants who worked mostly at running messages from one end of the castle to the other.

“Your Majesty, there is a Prince outside the castle asking for an audience with you.”

Something changed in her father’s demeanor, and he seemed to come back to life before her eyes. That was odd, but Hermione was distracted once again by the servant.

“He claims he is here to seek Princess Hermione’s hand in marriage.”

“Really!” The King asked “That’s fantastic! Well, I’ll go see this Prince then.” He turned back to Hermione and kissed her on the cheek, not noticing the tear tracks that still lay there. “Maybe you won’t have to marry Snape after all, pumpkin.”

With that her father exited the room with his assistant behind him, leaving Hermione to stew over what had just happened.

Severus Snape slammed the door behind him and flopped down in the chair behind his desk. He’d been foiled once again, and it was seriously making him angry. Not only had he lost the lamp – oh how he hoped that boy died a painful and slow death, and his owl too – but now his backup plan might be gone too. He’d thought himself quite brilliant when he’d come up with this scheme. After all, it was simple. Marry the little bitch, become King after the current King’s sudden and ‘unfortunate’ death, and then off the little princess. It was the perfect backup plan now that he couldn’t simply wish himself onto the throne.

But then this...this Prince James I had shown up and his plan was ruined! Snape couldn’t possibly re-entrance the King for the same plan, the magic just didn’t work that way. He would have to come up with some other plan.

Draco curled up happily on his shoulder, causing Snape to scowl. The little ferret was much too happy.

Prince James, I AKA Harry walked out of the King’s chamber a happy man. It was working, at least so far. The process of becoming a prince had been much more...involved than he had thought it would be. Dobby had wanted to create a backstory for Harry, and that had taken some time, and apparently a lot of magic.

But now Harry was King James the First, third son of King James and Queen Lily of a land that could be found across the sea. Harry was sure that the kingdom that he was supposedly from was completely made up, but he didn’t mind. Harry had tried to find out why Dobby had chosen those names, but the little genie was not telling, no matter what. Harry had been a little frustrated by that and had almost used his second wish to find out, but he figured that there were going to be more important uses for that wish than simply satisfying his curiosity.

The odd thing was that Dobby had grinned really widely just before that when Harry had shown him the locket that he and Hedwig had taken from the Chamber of Secrets. The genie had said nothing, but Harry could tell that he knew something about the locket.

Harry grinned and walked through Hogwarts Castle. He had received permission from the King of Gryffindor to meet with the Princess and to set up camp on the grounds. Harry found acting the part of being a prince much easier than he thought it would be, and neither King Dan nor his advisor had seemed to think anything was odd about Prince James at all.

Hogwarts was amazing. It was just as big as Harry had always thought it was, but it was also full of people and seemed to be very busy all the time. The grounds themselves were awe-inspiring and Harry was looking forward to maybe exploring them with Princess Hermione.

He was daydreaming about such an event when he bumped into someone, causing him to fall back on his bum. With a groan, he pulled himself back to his feet and picked up his hat. Then he looked down and saw with some dismay that the person he had bumped into was literally the person who he had been daydreaming about.

“Princess…I am so sorry, here let me help you up,” Harry exclaimed, stepping forward and offering the Princess his hand, which she took gingerly.

Once Hermione was back on her feet she looked at Harry in surprise. This man who had just knocked her overlooked exactly like the boy she had met in the market. But it couldn’t be. That boy was dead. And he had much messier hair. But the eyes. The eyes seemed to be the same, and Hermione almost lost herself in them before she could shake herself out of it. “Excuse me, sir, I should have looked where I was going.”

“Nonsense, it was my fault. I was daydreaming and wasn’t paying attention to where I was walking, so I am sorry.”

“So you’re the prince that my father wants me to meet,” Hermione said, changing the subject.

Harry blushed. For the first time since he had come up with this plan, he felt like an idiot. How was he supposed to fool this wonderful girl that he was some kind of royalty? She deserved better than someone who was only pretending to be a prince. But it was done, and Harry knew he would have to just go with the ruse. He couldn’t very well tell her the truth, could he?

“Yes, Princess. I have come to seek your hand in marriage,” Harry said, pompously – after all, the princes he had come across were all pompous asses.

Hermione scowled. “Yes, you and every minor third son of whatever kingdom. Every single one of you has been so full of yourself, and you look like you’re exactly the same. Now, if you’ll excuse me!”

Harry watched, befuddled, as Princess Hermione stalked away.

“Princess, wait!” Harry called out. Maybe acting a little less like a prince was going to work better.

Hermione stopped and looked back at him, her eyes flashing in fury. “What is it you want? There’s no sense in even talking to you, you’re going to be just like the others!”

“But I’m not. I’m sorry I came across as pompous, I do that sometimes. I really am sorry. Can we, I don’t know, maybe talk a little? I promise I won’t let my arrogant side out again. That’s really not me anyways.”

Harry watched as Hermione’s expression softened just a bit. She looked away for a moment before looking back and giving him a nod. “Fine. We can talk, but if you’re just like all those other pompous buffoons that have come here thinking they’re God’s gift to women, then I’ll sic my dog on you!”

Harry gulped but nodded. “I promise I’m not like those others you’ve met,” Harry said, thinking that he was telling the truth. After all, he was nothing like the other princes she had to have met. He wasn’t a prince at all. If the situation were different, Harry would be laughing his hind end off.

“Okay. Let’s go to the central garden then, we can talk there.”

A half-hour later, Hermione was thinking that there was no way this man was a prince. He was too ‘normal,’ and everything that he saw in their garden and around the castle was too awe-inspiring for him. But he had exceptional manners, and their talk was going much better than she thought it would.

The oddest thing was the Prince’s continued resemblance to Harry, the boy she had met in the market. At first, it had just been his looks. He looked astonishingly like Harry. James had the same eyes, the same jaw structure, and the same color hair. But the hair was much different in style, which is why Hermione decided that it was just a coincidence.

But other things turned out to be similar. First off, James talked the same way that Harry did. He had the same accent (which was odd, considering that he was supposedly from some distant land), but she had discounted that given that she had no clue what the accents of other places sounded like. James also had a similar taste in books as Harry, and she found that the two of them had just as much in common as she and Harry had.

It was very weird because she was positive that Harry had not been a prince when she kissed him, and she was equally positive that Snape had Harry killed. There was no way James could be the same person.

After they had been talking for almost two hours, Hermione said, “You seem very familiar.”

His reaction was quite interesting, causing Hermione to grin. She knew he was the same man. There was no other way to explain why his face had suddenly lost all color.

“I… I…” James – Harry – stuttered out.

“Why did you lie to me, Harry? And which is it, are you a prince from a distant land or are you a homeless boy who struggles to get by?” Hermione glared at him. Honestly, she didn’t care why he lied. She was so relieved to see that he was still alive that she desperately wanted to grab him and hug him senseless – and then maybe kiss him again just to make sure it hadn’t all been a dream.

He should have known better. Harry should have realized that someone as smart as Hermione wasn’t going to be fooled by a new haircut and better clothes. He should have also known that there was no way he could act like a prince long enough to pull this ruse off. What had he been thinking? Even if he had managed to woo her and marry her, eventually his secret would have come out – like at the wedding when his parents (supposedly the King and Queen of some distant land) didn’t show up.

The whole thing had been stupid and he couldn’t keep lying to her. The two hours they had spent talking and exploring one of Hogwarts main gardens had been amazing, and just cemented Harry’s belief in the connection between them.

Harry felt like he had known her his entire life. He wasn’t really one to believe in love at first sight like those silly stories that he had read when he was younger. But here he was, just hours into knowing this girl, and knowing for sure that he was desperately in love with her.

Now it was all ruined because he had lied to her. How would she ever want to be with him when he had lied to her? With a sigh, Harry said, “I...I’m sorry, Princess. I’m really so sorry. I’m not a prince. I’m sorry.”

Hermione grinned at him. That was the answer she was hoping for. Somehow he had tricked her father into thinking he was a prince. She didn’t want to know him as a prince. There were dozens of princes in the world, and every single one of them was pompous idiots who thought that they deserved her simply because of their birth. For that reason, Hermione was happy that Harry was not a prince.

“So you’re really that boy I met in the market! That’s so...so...amazing!” Hermione grabbed him in a hug and squeezed him tight. “I’m so glad you’re alive!”

Harry hugged her back, shocked. He hadn’t expected her to be happy. Angry, betrayed? Sure. Maybe even homicidal. For sure she would have eventually called for the castle guards to guide him none-to-gently back to the dungeons where he was sure there would be no crazy old man there to save him this time.

But she was hugging him and were those tears? His neck was definitely getting wet. “Princess?”

“Oh, Harry, I’m so happy you’re alive, I just can’t get over it! Thank the Gods.”

“You’re not mad?” Harry asked as he pulled away a bit, trying to see her face.

“Oh, I’m furious! But I’m also glad you haven’t been separated from your head. I want to hear all about how you came to be a ‘prince,’ and why you lied, but for now, I’m just really happy that I know you’re okay.” She hugged him again and then pulled away.

They were silent for a few moments. Hermione was remembering the last time they were together – and she knew who he was for real. They’d shared a kiss, and Hermione couldn’t help but want to do it again. Harry for his part was shaking in relief that she didn’t want to kill him for his deceit.

“Hey,” Harry said, suddenly. “I have a surprise for you. I found a magic carpet. Would you like to see some of the countryside? I can tell you my story while we’re out?”

Hermione looked at him oddly. “Like a flying carpet? Where would you have found a flying carpet?”

“Oh, Princess, you have no clue the adventure I’ve been on for the last day. I’ll tell you all about it, I promise.” With that, he held out his hand for her to take, which she did without even thinking about it. Harry grinned and led her around the garden to the place where he had left his things.

This was going to be fun.

Hermione hated heights, but in the end, their flying carpet ride had been one of the best experiences of her life. Harry was just everything she wanted for her life, and it felt like they had been together forever. She was sure that there was some flaw that she was missing – after all, there was no way she could know everything about him in so short a time – but she was also sure that she could live with those flaws. After all, everyone had flaws. She was a plain-looking bookworm who spent too much time with her nose in a book.

It felt odd. She had read so many books where the princess fell in love with a handsome man. Most all of them, Hermione found to be utterly unbelievable. Love at first sight just didn’t happen, and Hermione knew that it definitely would never happen to her.

But she had been so wrong. Maybe it hadn’t been first sight, but it had definitely happened in a single day, and that was astonishing. Hermione loved him, and she knew for sure that she was going to marry him someday, no matter what the law said.

The carpet ride had given Harry time to tell her about his time spent as a prisoner at Hogwarts and his escape and the adventure that followed it. Hermione had first been shocked to find that there was some sort of magical escape route out of their dungeons, but she soon became lost in the story of the treasure and the magic lamp.

She had not believed Harry when he had told her about the genie named Dobby. That was just too far fetched. But then he had taken out the lamp, rubbed it, and out popped Dobby. Hermione had nearly fallen off the carpet and had proceeded to punch Harry in the shoulder for scaring her so.

They’d spent six hours just flying around. Harry showed her where the Chamber had been – though there was no sign of it now – and then they had simply enjoyed the view of Hogsmeade and the surrounding countryside. Hermione had seen bits of it before, but seeing the farms and the city from a higher vantage point changed everything. It looked so much bigger. It was beautiful.

“I had a wonderful time, tonight, Harry,” Hermione said softly as Harry helped her off the rug on the balcony to her room back at the castle.

“Me too, Princess,” Harry replied, smiling up at her. “We should probably talk tomorrow about what we should do next. I’m not a prince, and I’m not going to be able to pretend to be one forever.”

“I’ll think about what we should do. I’m not letting you go, though. My father will just have to change the law. You’re the one I choose.”

Harry grinned and then did something that he had been wanting to do for hours. He kissed her. She froze for a moment and then she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Hermione moaned softly when his tongue glided gently over her lips. The two explored each other’s mouths for several moments, both enjoying it immensely.

When Hermione pulled back for breath, she beamed up at Harry. “Wow!”

“Wow, indeed,” Harry said, his breathing still coming out in pants. “Now, that’s a goodnight kiss.” With that he pecked her on the lips once again – how could he not? – and then hopped off the balcony and onto the hovering magic carpet. With a final smile back at the Princess, Harry floated off into the night, content that he would see his princess the next day where they would find a way to truly be together.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

When Harry woke up the next morning, he couldn’t breathe. He sluggishly managed to open his eyes, but the water around him kept him from seeing much. The water he had taken into his lungs when he had tried to gulp down air burned through his system as if his entire body was on fire. Struggling, He tried to use his arms to swim up to where he could see the sun shining through the water, but he found his hands tied behind his back.

Slowly he was sinking to the bottom of whatever body of water he had been thrown into. He looked down and found that there was an iron weight attached to his ankle. Harry tried not to panic, but he didn’t succeed. Slowly, black spots formed around his vision and he blacked out just as he hit the rocky bottom.

Dobby was quite bored. His current master was not the most exciting that he’d had in the last 10,000 years, but then again, there was a lot to be said for having simple wants and wishes. He was actually quite fond of his current master. It amused him to know that a man like Harry Potter was living such a simple life.

The Potters were a very famous family in Gryffindor. The family had been the right hands of the king for centuries and had often found themselves marrying their daughters into the Royal line. Dobby found it quite interesting that the only remaining Potter was attempting to con his way into the Royal line.

Dobby also knew that there was something hinky going on with the Potters. James and Lily had been very powerful, and would not have left their son to rot on the streets. The Potters guarded the Gryffindor Treasure, after all, and they knew their duty was to continue their line no matter what. Dobby himself had talked to them when James had married Lily. The question was, why were they gone? Were they dead? Or was something else going on?

It was obvious that young Harry had never known his parents, or at least he couldn’t remember them. And while Dobby knew there were magics in this world that could have made Harry forget, the fact that Harry had been living on the streets for 15 or more years was enough for Dobby to know that Harry had simply been too young when he had been shoved out onto the streets.

What had happened to the Potters? While Dobby himself was not attached to the family in any way, his lamp had been in the Potter’s hands many times over the course of many millennia. Dobby felt a duty to the Potters, and now to Harry, to find out what was going on. Why was this Snape fellow the Hand of the King when that position rightfully belonged to Harry Potter?

Dobby didn’t know, but he would definitely be trying to find out. Dobby was sitting in his expanded living space (inside his lamp) when he felt the call of his master. He popped out of the lamp and noticed immediately that his master hadn’t consciously called him, but was instead in the process of drowning.

Dobby was perturbed. Someone was trying to end the Potter line once and for all, though Dobby was suspicious of the timing of this assassination attempt. With a snap of his fingers, Harry was transported out of the Black Lake which resided on the southside of Hogwart's land, on the opposite side of Hogsmeade. Dobby and his master landed on the shoreline, with Harry coughing up the water he had taken into his lungs. Dobby watched with a scowl. Something had to be done. Technically he should not have saved his master without a wish, but what was done was done.

“T-thank you, Dobby,” Harry gasped once he stopped coughing. “I would have died without you.”

“You’se be welcome, Master Harry. I’s should not has done that without a wish, but it no longer matters.”

“I wonder who tried to kill me?” Harry wondered sitting up and wiping the water out of his eyes. He was cold but was happier being cold than dead.

Dobby had not told the young Potter about his ancestry, not yet. He didn’t know how the young man would handle it, and there wasn’t much that Harry could do about it. Even wishing for his rightful position to be restored wouldn’t bring back the boy’s parents. Perhaps it was time to come clean about some of what was going on, even if Dobby had yet to discover the entire story.

“I’s believe that it be that greasy Snape man, Master Harry.”

“Severus Snape? The Hand of the King? But why would he want me dead?”

Dobby didn’t answer but just watched as Harry thought about the situation for several minutes.

“Son of a bitch!” Harry exclaimed. “The King had said that Snape wanted to marry Princess Hermione. This must be why he did this.”

“That’s be making some sense,” Dobby said cautiously. He knew that Harry only had part of the truth, but then again, it was also quite likely that Snape didn’t know that the boy was the last remaining Potter. Snape was Dobby’s prime suspect when it came to the disappearance of the Potters.

“Well, I won’t let him get away with this. Hermione wants me, and I want her. She doesn’t want to marry that greasy old git,” Harry said as he stood up. Dobby watched in admiration as the boy put on a determined face and started to make the trek around the Black Lake. Dobby popped back into his lamp – which was now back on Harry’s belt – and started to think about how he could expose Severus Snape and restore the Potter line back to its rightful place in society.

Severus Snape snarled and threw the potion at the ground before the guards could manhandle him into shackles. He always carried a special potion on him that would allow him a quick escape, and now he was glad that he did.

Somehow that infernal brat had survived his assassination, and now the King knew that Snape was a traitor.

The only good news was that Snape now realized where the lamp had gone. He’d spotted it on the boy’s belt just moments before he used the potion to escape the guards. That meant that the boy wasn’t a prince at all!

Snape landed gracefully in the home he kept in the city. It had been his parent’s home and it was good enough for a safe house.

With a smirk, he knew what he had to do. ‘Prince James’ would not be surviving the night, and soon Snape would finally have the lamp in his possession.

Oh yes, it was almost done. Years worth of planning, work, and sacrifice would finally be worth it. Yes. It was time for Snape to get his reward for years of patience.

“I can’t believe he did that!” Hermione shouted, pacing back and forth. Harry had just told her about his near-death experience that morning and his confrontation with Snape. “I mean I know he had come up with that idiotic plan to have me marry him, but that he would go this far?”

“I’m sorry, Princess,” Harry said, shamefacedly.

“What are you apologizing for, Harry. It has nothing to do with you. You know, I’ve never trusted that man. He only started as the Hand of the King a few years after I was born traditionally that position was held by one of my family’s vassals, the Potters. But Lord James and Lady Lily were killed just before I was born.”

Harry’s eyes widened. “James and Lily, you said?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Do you know if they had a child?” Harry asked urgently. “No, nevermind.” Harry took out the lamp and gave it a furious rub. Dobby popped out.

“Dobby, why did you choose the names James and Lily for my cover story?”

“Master Harry? I’s not understand?”

“Dobby tell me the truth, please,” Harry begged. “Were my parents really named James and Lily?”

Dobby looked down and then back up at his master. “Yes, Master Harry, Lord James and Lady Lily were your parents.”

Harry flopped down on a bench. They had been talking in the center garden once more, but Harry couldn’t enjoy the beauty after the morning he’d had. And now…

He had always wanted to know his parents. It was something deep inside him that craved to know why he had been forced to live on the streets. Now he knew. His parents had been killed.

“Wait...” Hermione said, bringing Harry out of his shocked silence. “Does that mean that Severus Snape killed the Potters? Why would he do that? And why, I mean, how did Harry live if that’s the case?”

“I’s not be knowing the answers to those questions, Princes ‘Mione.” With that Dobby popped away, leaving the two young people to contemplate the new information.

“I can’t believe that my parents were nobles,” Harry said, burying his face in his hands. Hermione took a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “I mean I never really knew them. But I always dreamed that my parents were important.”

“Oh, Harry. I’m so sorry.”

Harry shook his head. “No, it’s okay. I’m glad I know more than I did before.”

“What are we going to do about Snape?”

“I don’t know. This is all a mess. I mean your father doesn’t know me to be the last of the Potters, he thinks I’m Prince James. I can’t very well go up to him and tell him that I’m supposed to be the Hand of the King, and even if I did that, I’m...I don’t even know what the Hand does! I can’t be Hand of the King.

“And besides, I don’t even know if I’d want to be that. I do know that I want to be with you, and that’s still another problem because we both know the law, and eventually, someone is going to find out that I’m not actually who I claim to be. It’s only a matter of time before the guards come and collect me and put me back in the dungeons.”

“I think we can keep your secret if you want to do that,” Hermione said tentatively. “Now that Snape is gone, my father will need to find a new Hand to serve, and Snape won’t be around to tell him the truth, even if the man does know about your parentage.”

“Won’t the King think it odd that my parents don’t show up for our wedding?”

“Our wedding, Mister Potter? My, aren’t you confident?” Hermione teased before leaning in and kissing him on the lips.

When she pulled back, Harry tried to apologize, but she put a finger on his lips to keep him quiet. “I was joking, Harry. Of course, I want to marry you. I know we’ve only known each other for a couple of days, but I really feel like I’ve known you forever. I...I love you. I know it’s weird, but I do.”

“I love you too, Princess,” Harry said with a big smile.

They decided to think about their problems for a while longer, both hoping that some solution would come to them. Harry knew that the tentative plan to keep fooling the King into thinking Harry was a prince was a plan doomed to fail. There was just no way that it wouldn’t eventually come out, and it would likely be revealed at the absolute worst time which would not only suck but would probably hurt Hermione as well. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her.

They parted with a kiss and a plan to meet for dinner. Neither of them knew that their dinner plans would never happen.

Harry was pacing in his tent later that afternoon. Hedwig was on his shoulder, occasionally rubbing her head on his cheek, making him smile. His friend had not shown herself to Hermione, as Harry had been sure that would give away his identity. But now that the secret was out of the bag, Harry wouldn’t keep Hedwig a secret.

He was thinking hard about the whole situation he found himself in. Hermione knew the truth of him, and that was a huge relief. Harry couldn’t imagine if he were in this situation while still lying to her about being a prince. The question was twofold. How could he marry Hermione if he weren’t a prince? And secondly, what did he do about his family’s position in society?

Harry hadn’t really come to terms with the fact that he was part of the nobility of Gryffindor yet, nor that his family had been serving as Hands for the last 2000 years. It was an odd feeling because it was something that he had never imagined being real. Sure he had hoped that his parents were important people, but for his father to be the former Hand of the King? That had never crossed his mind.

Harry was just about to make another pass of his tent, determined to find a solution so he and Hermione could be happy together when he heard her voice calling him from outside the tent.

With a grin, he picked up his hat and left the tent, not noticing that he had left Dobby’s lamp behind.

Snape grinned down at the shackled boy. It had been very easy to con the boy out of his camp, and now Snape had the lamp in his hands. It was time for him to take his place as the true leader of Gryffindor. The King and the Princess walked into the room both with swords at their back. Snape had been able to use the guards that were loyal to him to bring him the current Royal family.

“Snape! What is the meaning of this!” The King shouted.

“Ah, Your Majesty! Welcome to my big reveal!” Snape said gregariously. “I’ve got quite the show to put on, I’m so glad you could make it!”

Hermione, who only had eyes for the restrained Harry, growled, “As if we had a choice, now release us and release him!”

“You always thought a bit too much of yourself, Princess,” Snape sneered. “I’m afraid I cannot let this man go free. You see he has been perpetrating a fraud on the crown and it is my duty to ensure that the crown is not fooled.”

“Fooled? What are you talking about, Snape? You ordered this boy killed not 24 hours ago!”

“Well, yes, that’s true, but it no longer matters,” Snape said with a smirk. “You see this here is Harry Potter, not Prince James. Harry Potter, you see is not a prince at all, but is, in fact, nothing more than an orphaned street urchin!”

Snape revealed in the shock on the King’s face, but he knew there was more to reveal. It was time to reveal his biggest secret. He had been so shocked to find that “Prince James” was actually the spawn of that menace James Potter. That the boy was the rightful heir to the Hand of the King was completely a surprise, and not really a good one. Severus hadn’t known that the Potters had had a son.

“Potter?” The King asked.

“Oh, yes,” Snape said savagely. “He is the son of your precious James and Lily. I had no clue when I killed them that they even had a son, so color me quite surprised!”

“Y-you killed them?”

“Of course, I did! James Potter killed my father when I was but a boy. It took years of planning, but eventually, I got the power I needed, and now I’m about to have more. But that’s something that we can talk about in just a moment. For now, I need to finish the Potter line once and for all.”

Snape looked down at Harry and sneered. “I enjoyed killing your parents, boy. It’s a shame that you weren’t around then, we could have avoided all of this nonsense. Now, I’ve got something truly special planned for you. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

With that, Snape raised his snake-headed cane high up in the air and slammed it down on Harry’s head, leaving him in an unconscious heap on the ground.

“Harry!” Hermione screamed.

“Silence, you daft girl. We’ll get to you in a moment,” Snape shouted. Then he turned to the two guards who had brought him the Potter brat. “Take him to the drop off point I discussed with you earlier!”

The guards nodded and then picked Harry up and moved quickly out of the room. Snape watched them go and then turned back to the King and Princess who were still being held at sword point.

“Now, it’s time to have some fun,” Snape said, fingering his brand new golden lamp. It was time. Time for his first wish. Time for him to have the power he so rightfully deserved.

-:::-

The first thing that Harry noticed was the silence. When he managed to open his eyes, he found himself in what looked to be a dungeon of some sort, but this was different than any dungeon he’d ever been in before.

For one there was a giant statue of a man with an ugly nose gracing one wall. All along the room pillars that had giant snakes coiled around them spiraled up into the air, holding up a ceiling that Harry couldn’t see. Torches flamed brightly but not bright enough to light the whole room. The floor was wet, but Harry didn’t understand that, and it didn’t really matter at the moment.

Harry managed to get up and look around the place a little more, but he couldn’t spot an entrance. Wherever he was, was so big that he knew it would take him a lot of time to find a way out. With a sigh of defeat, Harry began his trek through the pillars, hoping beyond hope that Hermione and her father were still alive when he got free of wherever he had been stashed. He could tell that Snape had plans for the Princess and her father, and whatever those plans were they weren’t likely to be healthy for either of them.

Just as he was passing by the giant statue, the mouth started to move. Harry thought at first that he was hallucinating. It seemed the most probable explanation since he did have a giant bump on his head from where Snape had hit him. But the noise was real, and the mouth was moving. Harry scrambled away, wary of any magic that wasn’t being controlled by something or somebody he could see. He knew that the statue must be of Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin, along with the other four founders of Britannia, had once resided at Hogwarts Castle. 

Harry, now many yards away from the moving mouth, looked on in fear. The feeling in his gut told him that whatever was coming out of the door that had just opened was not going to be good for him.

A moment later, movement caught Harry’s attention. The scales were his first indication that he hated when he was right. Harry knew he was screwed. As someone who loved to spend time in the library to get away from his time on the streets, he had read a lot – a lot. One of his early interests was snakes, mostly because snakes were astonishingly rare in Gryffindor. Harry had found that there were several myths and legends surrounding snakes and the man who had once championed them – Salazar Slytherin.

Britannia had once been one large kingdom, ruled by the four most powerful families in the land: Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor. The four families had been friends for millennia, and had founded their kingdom and ruled peacefully for ages. Then came along Rowena, Helga, Salazar IV, and Godric. The four had been raised together, and would one day take over the kingdom from their parents. When that happened, the four best friends had apparently had a huge fight, which had led to a war that killed thousands of people, and had eventually led to the single kingdom being split into four equal pieces.

Harry had read that for whatever reason, Salazar Slytherin had found a curse that would remove the snakes from all the lands that did not bear his name. All snakes, that is, except one.

The only type of snake that would be able to live within the three kingdoms would be the feared Basilisk. Harry had read that for two hundred years after the Great War, basilisks were truly menacing creatures who killed thousands of people who were caught in their path. It was only after that amount of time that the rulers of the other three kingdoms managed to find a solution that somehow killed all the known basilisks in the land.

But Harry knew that this was a basilisk. Even now it was the only type of snake that could exist within Gryffindor. There were accounts of the rare giant snake showing up in more recent centuries – those accounts always coming with accounts of heroic battles that Harry had a hard time believing.

After all, one look into the snake’s eyes and Harry knew he was going to be a goner. With that thought, Harry ran. There was no fighting a basilisk, not even with a sword. And Harry didn’t even have a sword. He was about a hundred yards further away from the opening in the statue when the snake landed with a slump in the main chamber. Harry could hear it slithering along quickly after him, and he just knew he wasn’t going to be able to outrun the giant snake.

He threw himself behind one of the larger pillars and clutched at his chest, breathing hard. That was when he felt it. The Locket that he wore around his neck was warmer than normal and seemed to be pulsing. The images of his parents were something that he had looked at often since Hedwig had ‘retrieved’ the locket from the cave.

He knew they were his parents. Hermione had taken a look at the locket and had told him that the images inside were indeed James and Lily Potter. It had made the locket even more precious to him. But Harry hadn’t known that the locket had magical properties.

He pulled it out of his tunic and gaped down at it. It glowed a soft golden color and seemed to be pulsing with power. Harry didn’t know what to do. It was obvious to him that the locket held some sort of power, but what? And how could he use it to fight a bloody basilisk when he didn’t know how to use that power?

Just as he was about to give up and try once again to outrun the snake, Harry gripped the locket harder and breathed deeply, preparing himself for the flight. Then he felt a tug behind his navel, which was odd enough for Harry’s eyes to shoot open. Spinning colors of all kinds surrounded him for several moments, making him dizzy. Then they stopped and Harry landed on his bum in a daze.

When he finally managed to get himself back on his feet he looked around. His jaw dropped in shock. He was back at Hogwarts. He could tell because the masonry was exactly the same, and the window he was looking out of had a grand view of the central garden, the space that he and Hermione had spent so much time during the last couple of days.

With a grin, he turned around and noticed the door to the room he was in was open wide. Harry rushed through it and found that he was high up in the Castle, in what must have at one time been the quarters of his parents, if the portraits on the wall were anything to go by. Almost every single one had a man who looked at least something like Harry in them.

Harry rushed past, even if he wanted to spend all his time gazing at his ancestors. He had to get back to Hermione. He could feel it. Time was running out.


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Harry was really good at being a sneak, and that was a skill that was currently serving him very well, not that he was truly happy about that at the moment. He’d managed to sneak into the throne room of Hogwarts Castle, also known as the Great Hall, and what he found there infuriated him.

Severus Snape sat upon the Golden Throne of Gryffindor, looking like a smug bastard. The true king was nowhere to be seen, and Hermione...Hermione was shackled to the throne itself. She was kneeling beside the giant bloody chair, and Harry could see blood dripping from her mouth as if she had been hit at least once. It made his blood boil and he just knew he was going to kill Snape if he had the chance.

No one hurt his princess and got away with it.

As seemed proper for a villain such a Snape, the man was monologuing, exposing upon the awesomeness of himself, and the things he was going to do to bring Britannia under his thumb. Hermione had her head bowed.

“Of course, I’ll need a queen,” Snape said suddenly. “She’ll need to be beautiful and powerful. She’ll also need to be obedient.” The man looked down at Hermione, and Harry watched as the beast had the audacity to stroke his Princess’ hair like a common dog. Harry grit his teeth and crept closer.

“You’ll be my queen, of course, Princess,” Snape said grandly as if bestowing some great privilege. “You’ll rule by my side, and eventually you will bear my heirs.”

Harry wanted to vomit but forced himself to stay quiet. He was getting closer to the throne, sneaking between giant pillars that stood tall throughout the Great Hall. He didn’t have a plan. That was probably not a great idea, but he knew he had to get Hermione away from the evil bastard as quickly as possible. The thing that worried him the most was the stand on the other side of the throne. It was a pedestal that held a shining gold lamp that Harry was very familiar with.

The thought that this man, this beast, had Dobby under his control was sickening. Harry could only imagine the terrible things that Snape could do with three wishes from one of the most powerful beings on the planet.

Hermione didn’t take the idea of being Snape’s queen too well at all.

“Never! I’ll never be with a man like you! You will just have to kill me!” She shouted with her head held high.

Snape laughed. “Well, if you won’t be mine by choice, then we’ll just have to give you some incentive then!”

Snape picked up the lamp and gave it a rub. The maniacal grin on his face was very disturbing even from a distance, and Harry wanted nothing more than to punch the beak-nosed bastard in the face. He knew that he was going to have to act quickly if he wanted to keep his Hermione from being enslaved to such a monster.

Dobby popped into the room, looking miserable. “You called, Master Snapie?”

“Snape you idiotic little fool!” Snape shouted. “But yes, indeed, slave, I did call you. I have made my choice for my second wish!”

“Of course, master. How’s can Dobby be helping you?” Dobby asked through gritted teeth. It soothed Harry to know that Dobby wasn’t helping the greasy bastard of free will, but he desperately wished he could get Dobby to stop what he was doing.

“I wish that Princess Hermione become my queen and that she be absolutely devoted to my will and well being!”

Dobby cringed. “I be’s sorry, master Snapie, I’s can’t be doing that!”

“You will do as you’re told!” Snape shouted, his face turning purple at being rebuffed.

“I’s not be able to force someone to fall in love with someone else, it is not something I’s be able to do!”

Snape laughed. “I didn’t request that the little bint love me, slave. I said that she be devoted to my will. Enslave her, you buffoon!”

Dobby cringed again. Just as he was about to snap his fingers to comply with Snape’s wish, Hermione stood up and said something that shocked Harry, Dobby, and Snape.

“You’re such a handsome man, Severus,” Hermione purred. Harry cringed. What was going on? Had Dobby already gone through with the magic to make Hermione a slave? Was his princess gone? Harry wanted to curl up in ball and cry at the thought. But then he noticed something. Hermione was smirking.

She was lying! Harry grinned.

“There’s no need to waste a wish on me, I will happily give myself to you, my King!”

Snape, who had been just as shocked as Dobby and Harry, grinned savagely. “I’m glad you came to your senses, my queen.”

He stepped forward and was just about to grab a hold of Hermione when he noticed something in the window directly behind her. Harry had taken Snape’s focus on Hermione as an opportunity to move even closer to the throne.

Snape spun on his heel and shouted, “You! How many times do I have to kill you boy!”

Harry froze. He cursed himself for getting caught.

Hermione whispered, “Harry!” She was so relieved that Harry was okay. She so feared that he had been killed and that she would never see him again. In fact, she had been sure of it. After all, Snape didn’t seem to have a problem with killing those who were in his way, she thought with a sob. She still didn’t know what had happened to her father, but she was sure that he was gone for good. Snape’s first wish of “Make me King and get rid of this pretender,” had not really left much in the way of leeway for the genie.

“So, you got yourself away from my pet, eh boy?” Snape questioned, stalking towards where Harry continued to try to hide. “Well, no matter. I’ll just have to do it myself this time and ensure that you stay dead.”

Hermione watched as Harry walked out from behind the pillar and looked Snape in the eye. “What is it you think you’re doing here, Snape?”

“Well, I am now King and I have my queen! Soon I will be the most powerful ruler in all the world!”

Harry laughed. “You are delusional. You might have three wishes, but even magic can’t make people follow you!”

“You’ll see, boy. Or rather, your princess will see as she watches me ground the will of the people under my heel. Now. It’s time for you to finally meet your end.”

With that Snape pulled a sword and advanced on Harry. Harry, shockingly, found that he couldn’t move and he didn’t understand. It would be so simple just to outrun the old bastard, but his feet seemed to be glued to the ground.

“What’s the matter can’t move?” Snape mocked. “You see, this chamber has some interesting qualities for the King. One of those is that the King can ensure that no one moves without his permission. I’m sure that it is meant to protect the king, but no matter, it works now as well. Now let us be done with this. I have a queen to enjoy for the first time!”

Hermione winced just as Harry cringed at the thought of her having to be with Snape. Hermione had known for years that it was likely that she would be married off to someone who she didn’t love. It was just a simple matter, and she knew she would do her duty to keep her family going, but she had never liked that fact. She had, however, never thought that she would be forced to be with someone that she hated, and she hated Severus Snape.

Hermione watched as Harry looked at the man they both hated with a determined look on his face. Hermione knew Harry was planning on something.

“Are you sure you want to do that, Snape? After all, you might have tricked your way into being the King of Gryffindor, but you aren’t really all that powerful, there are powers out there that are much more powerful than any king. Magics that you’ll never have control over! All you’ll ever be is a pretender to the throne and a weak one at that.”

“Weak? You call me weak? Well, maybe you’re right, maybe there are powers that I should hold. Yes, yes that sounds good.”

Snape turned towards Dobby who had been trying to fade into the background. “Genie, I have my second wish! I wish to be an all-powerful sorcerer!”

Dobby winced. Everyone always asked to be made a wizard. Why couldn’t they come up with something fresh? At least his former master, Harry, had been interesting, if for no other reason than he was a part of a family that had been a part of Dobby’s life for millennia.

But this guy...well this guy was evil. Dobby had served evil men before, of course. Power tended to go to people’s heads, and they became corrupted by it. Dobby usually had no choice in who became his next master, though there were times when his lamp was in the control of the Potters, that he would be able to dictate who he would go to next. That was always more fun and he felt at those times that he helped shape the world in some way.

But Dobby hated the evil ones. There was usually little he could do to stop such evilness. There wasn’t much he could do in this instance either.

But then Dobby remembered something, something that his sire had once told him. “Your master’s are never as smart as they think they are. If you have to, be free with your interpretations.”

Dobby grinned, also remembering how he himself had been tricked not so long ago by his previous master.

“I’s be sorry, master,” Dobby said, stuttering and looking the fool like he always did. “I needs you to be clear, you’s wanted to be the most powerful magic user?”

“Yes, yes, of course, give it to me!”

“You’se shall be a very nice genie,” Dobby said softly, and then he snapped his fingers, letting his magic do his master’s wishes.

Snape grinned foolishly. He could feel the power flowing into him. It was incredible. He’d had dreams of ruling the world, and now he could! He could rule forever and no one could stop him.

The magic...good Gods the magic was incredible! Snape was so enraptured by the power flowing into him that he didn’t notice the gleaming gold bracelets that were attaching themselves to his wrists or the gold collar that had appeared around his neck.

At first, Harry was frightened. His plan to goad Snape into being a fool and using his remaining two wishes now seemed foolish beyond belief. Of course, the man would want to become a sorcerer. Now he’d rule not only as a King but he’d have the magic to go with it.

Harry knew then that he was going to die and his princess was going to become a slave to the monster who had probably killed her father. Harry wasn’t a fool, he knew that Snape had likely had the previous King killed. Harry now wished he had just let Snape chop off his head. It would all be so much better than watching this.

But then something happened. Dobby, that clever little bugger, had tricked Snape! Harry recognized it the moment that the bracelets attached to Snape’s wrist and the man started to shrink and turn color. Dobby had made Snape like him. A slave to the lamp.

Harry grinned. Dobby had told him when they were working together to make Harry a prince, that genies could only do magic under certain circumstances, and all of those circumstances revolved around seeing to their master’s wishes.

Harry finally breathed a sigh of relief. It was all going to be okay. Snape would be contained, and Hermione would be free. He had no clue what state the Kingdom was in, but he figured that Hermione would know what to do about that.

But first, he needed to take some pleasure in letting Snape know that his reign of terror was over once and for all.

“Not so powerful now, are you, Snivellus?”

“What? What are you talking about, boy? I am all-powerful! I can feel the magic flowing around me! I will rule the world!”

Harry laughed. “Sure, sure. Then you probably should look behind you.”

Snape looked and noticed a bright red lamp at his feet. That was also when he noticed the bracelets around his wrists.

“Yeah, you see, Dobby is quite smart. The most powerful magic users of our world are genies, so, you’re a genie. And you know what that means?”

Snape screamed as magic swirled around him once more. Slowly he was pulled into the lamp. He could feel the magic bonding him to the will of the lamp. It didn’t take long. He had just enough time to see that grinning fool Potter looking at him with satisfaction and to see a white ferret scurrying for his life.

With a final howl of rage, Snape was gone. His red lamp lying harmlessly on the floor of the Great Hall, a small glow of magic fading around it.

Harry breathed out and then turned to see Dobby doing a little happy dance. “That was awesome, Dobby! Thank you for saving us!”

He walked over and gave his friend a hug. Dobby froze for a moment and then patted Harry on the back. Harry released him with a grin and then walked over to where Hermione was still shackled to the throne.

“Hermione...”

“Harry,” Hermione said, tears flowing down her cheeks. “My father...” Then she broke down in tears, as she realized just what Snape had truly cost her.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to vkitchen for looking this over for me, and thanks to AlexandraO for working through some problems I had in later chapters!

**Chapter Eight**

Harry quickly caught Hermione as she fell to her knees, great sobs wracking her slender body. He felt so helpless. Not moments ago he was celebrating, but there was really little to celebrate. Sure they were alive and Hermione wasn’t a slave to a monster like Snape, but still, her father was gone.

“I’m so sorry, Princess. So sorry,” Harry whispered into her hair.

“You’se father not being dead, Princess,” a voice came from behind them. Harry pulled away from Hermione as they both turned to look at the little green creature.

“What did you say, Dobby?” Hermione asked, her voice tight.

“You’se father not be being dead,” Dobby repeated with a grin. “Old Snapie didn’t say that I’s had to kill him.”

“But… but he’s gone?” Hermione questioned. Harry wrapped an arm around her for comfort.

“No, he’s being in his residence.”

Hermione screeched and started running out of the Great Hall towards the Royal Residence that took up the largest area of Hogwarts Castle.

Harry didn’t follow, knowing that she would be just fine without him now. He looked at Dobby who was still smiling.

“I’m glad you are so devious, Dobby,” Harry said. “We wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”

“You’se be welcome, Master Harry.”

“Master? You don’t have to call me master anymore, Dobby.”

“But you’se be my master once more!” Dobby said with a happy grin.

Harry looked at the little guy in shock. “But I lost your lamp!”

Dobby shrugged. “I’s not be caring, you’se has my lamp now. So that means you’se still has two wishes to go, Master Harry!”

“I’m glad you’re not still with Snape, Dobby. No one deserves to be attached to a monster like that.”

“I’s be being glad as well, Master Harry.”

At that moment, Hermione, Padfoot, and King Dan came into the Great Hall. The King looked perfectly fine from Harry’s perspective, which was a relief. But now Harry was nervous. The King now knew that Harry had lied about being Prince James. Would the King have Harry arrested? Frankly, he was quite done with being put in shackles.

When the King and his daughter came to a stop a few feet away from where Harry was standing next to the throne, Harry got to one knee and said, “Your Majesties.”

“Oh, get up, Harry,” Hermione said. Harry’s head snapped up and saw that both father and daughter were grinning at him.

“Harry Potter,” King Dan said. “You know, young man, that your father was my best friend?”

“Uh, no sir, I didn’t know that. I only just learned their names a few days ago. I know very little about my family,” Harry responded as he stood up cautiously.

“Well, we’ll have to see to that,” the King said.

“W-we will?” Harry stuttered out. This was not how he thought it would go. He thought there would be swords and guards and threats to remove his head from his shoulders. Not offers of stories about his parents.

“Of course, my boy. You’ll need to know a lot in order to take up your post as Hand of the King! That post has been filled by a Potter for millennia and only the fact that I had no clue you were still alive changed that. Snape was recommended to me by one of the nobles that come to court, and I had no other option really. So, yes, I’ll make sure you know everything you need to know to take up that position.

Hermione was quite happy that her father was okay with Harry being around, but she was shocked out of her happy daze when her father said something about Harry being the next Hand. That just couldn’t be. Harry was hers! She couldn’t marry him if he wasn’t a prince, and she definitely couldn’t marry him if he was the Hand of the King!

“Father,” Hermione said cautiously.

Her father grinned down at her. “Isn’t it wonderful to have a Potter back in the castle?”

Hermione swallowed nervously. “Of course, Father. I...You have been asking me to make a choice of a suitor for months now and the deadline is just days away. I have made my choice.”

The King’s eyes widened before his smile got wider. “You have! Oh, Hermione, that’s wonderful! Who is the lucky Prince...Wait. Wait are you saying that...”

“Yes, Father, Harry is my choice.”

The King’s shoulders slumped. Hermione could feel her heart sink along with her father’s shoulders. She just knew what happened next was not going to be something she liked hearing.

“I am sorry, honey. But Harry Potter is not a prince and therefore is ineligible for your hand in marriage. I know the law is irrational and wrong, but I cannot change it. I have a lot of power in this land, but it is not supreme power. These types of laws are put forth by the Noble Council. I had to agree to it, but once I did, there is no going back. I’m really sorry.”

“B-but I love him,” Hermione whispered with tears running down her cheeks. This was a nightmare. She had finally found the man she loved, the man she wanted to marry and now she couldn’t marry him? She would still be forced to marry some stuffy old prince who only wanted her for her father’s kingdom?

It wasn’t fair. Hermione turned on her heel and ran out of the room, refusing to be in her father’s presence any longer.

Harry watched as the Princess ran out of the room. He himself wanted to flee as well, but he knew that he couldn’t. He had an offer to learn more about his family and he couldn’t give that up. But the thought of losing Hermione to gain that information? That was heartbreaking and Harry didn’t know if he could stomach seeing her with another man, something that was sure to happen once her father chose a match for her in just a matter of days.

“I don’t like making her sad,” The King said, his voice thick. “If I had known that it would be so hard for her to find someone suitable than I would never have agreed to that law.” The King looked at Harry. “I’m sorry to you as well, Harry. I assume you return my daughter’s affections?”

“Y-yes, sir. I love her very much,” Harry responded softly. “But I understand the need for the law.”

The King nodded. “Whoever marries Hermione will become King one day. It made sense when the nobles proposed the law that that person should have Royal blood. My family is odd in that way, Harry. We’ve never intermarried with the nobles of this land, so I have no heir to pass the throne to when I die. The nobles don’t want to fight a war to choose which one of them should be on the throne, and I’m glad for that, but it has left us in a terrible mess, and I fear that I will lose Hermione because of it. Hell, she has already tried to run away!”

The King looked away. “If there was a way for her to marry you, I’d do it in a heartbeat!.”

“Perhaps there is a way,” Dobby said. The King and Harry jumped and looked towards the little genie who had been sitting as bold as brass on the throne.

“Dobby, is that you?”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I’s still being Dobby?”

“You know him, sir?” Harry asked.

“Of course. Your father showed me the lamp when we were but small children, and Dobby came out to play with us. For whatever reason, the lamp won’t bond with an immature child, probably a good thing or we would have asked for a life’s supply of cookies at the time!”

Harry laughed and then turned to Dobby. “What did you mean there might be a way, Dobby?”

“Wells, you’se be having two more wishes, Master Harry. You could use one or both to make yourself a prince again. It would even be fooling the nobles, though the King and the Princess would be knowing the truth.”

Harry’s head spun. Could it be that simple? He looked at the King who was looking speculative. Harry wasn’t sure what to make of that look, so he stayed silent waiting for the King to have his say. If the King said no, Harry was sure there would be no other way of being with Hermione and all would be lost.

If the King said yes, well then, that changed everything and would make both him and Hermione really happy – if she hadn’t run away again, Harry thought with an internal smile.

“He’ll be able to fool the nobles, Dobby? Because if it were ever found out, I probably couldn’t keep Harry safe. And if it were found out after he takes the throne, well that would definitely lead to war. Our nobles are pretty stable, but Slytherin shares our southern border and they would definitely use any instability on the part of our Royal family to their advantage. King Lucius is a shrewd man, and while we’ve had peace for the last two hundred years, eventually those snakes will want to cause trouble again.”

“Yes, You’se Majesty,” Dobby answered. “The magic will be much stronger this time. I should have done a better job the first time, but I didn’t think about the nobles.”

The King nodded. “You only thought you needed to fool Hermione and me. That’s reasonable. It definitely worked, at least on my part.” The King was silent for several moments before he nodded and turned to Harry. “Okay, son. If you really want to marry my daughter, then make your wish. Know this though, you will be King someday. If you’re not serious about this, it’ll likely be the end of you.”

Harry gulped. He didn’t want to be King. Not at all. Even being the Hand of the King was a daunting task all on its own, and that was a position he was supposedly born for.

But...but he wanted to be with Hermione. He loved her more than anything, as odd as that was. He still couldn’t believe that he had only met her a couple of days before and that he already felt so deeply for her. But he did. Was that enough for him to want to put up with being a King when really he was just a simple street rat?

“Dobby...I wish to be made a prince!” Harry said with more confidence than he felt. He really hoped that he wasn’t a terrible King when the time came.

Hermione was sitting outside the Great Hall when Harry walked out the huge doors. He found her sitting against the wall, with her knees pulled up to her chest. She wasn’t crying anymore, but that was only because she had run out of tears. Her life was ruined...again. It seemed like the last three days were full of ups and downs. Running away to get away from a silly and apparently irreversible marriage law, meeting Harry, Harry getting caught, Harry coming back as a fake Prince, falling in love with him, Harry getting caught again...it all just seemed like too much.

And now, after they had survived the bad guy, wasn’t she supposed to get her happy ending? Didn’t she deserve to have love and happiness after all that she and her family had suffered? Didn’t Harry deserve it? Life was not fair, and Hermione had half a mind simply to run away again. Maybe Harry would run with her and they could just leave the Gryffindor kingdom behind.

“Princess?”

Hermione looked up at him. Her jaw dropped in shock. “Harry! Why are you dressed like a...well why are you looking like a prince again?”

“That’s because I am a Prince again,” Harry said with a grin. “I used my second wish with Dobby to be made into Prince Harry I. I have the details of my lineage, but that doesn’t matter right now. Your father approved if you’re wondering.”

“He...he did? You mean?” Hermione stood up so quickly she got dizzy for a moment, causing Harry to reach out and grasp her hips to steady her. “You mean?”

Harry grinned. “I’m yours if you want me? Dobby’s done all the magic. All we’ll need is to keep it a secret and ensure I know how to act like a prince and stuff. So, you know, no big deal!”

Hermione giggled and crushed herself into him in a fierce hug. She couldn’t help the tears that flowed down her cheeks. At least this time they were happy tears.

After a few moments, Harry asked, “So, will you, Princess? Will you marry me?”

Hermione nodded rapidly, her hair flying out of the neat bun she had placed it in earlier that morning. “Yes, yes, yes!” With that, she lent up on her toes and kissed him for all she was worth.

She was getting married! Hermione couldn’t believe it!

A few hours later, the newly engaged couple were walking hand in hand through one of Hermione’s favorite gardens. They weren’t talking all that much, just enjoying each other’s company and thinking about what the future held for them.

“How do I even begin to think about being King, Hermione?” Harry asked, breaking the silence.

“You’re not King, Harry. You will be someday. In the meantime, Father will teach you all that you need to know I’m sure. Father is quite young, he has many years left, so barring some tragedy, you won’t be taking the throne any time soon. Just learn what you can, and for the rest, we’ll figure it out together. I promise.”

Harry grinned and stopped to pull her into another hug. He couldn’t stop the happiness he felt every time he held her. It was addicting and he knew he would never tired of it.

“Thank you, Princess.”

“Oh, Harry, I’m so happy! I can’t believe you found a way.”

“It wasn’t me,” Harry replied bashfully. “It was all Dobby. I was resigned to my fate when he suggested that there might be another way.”

“I don’t know how we’ll ever repay him,” Hermione said into his shoulder. She didn’t see the mischievous smirk on Harry’s face.

Harry pulled away and said, “Oh, I know just how we can repay him.”

Hermione looked up at him and raised an eyebrow.

Harry just grinned wider and pulled the lamp from where it hung once again at his side. He gave it a rub.

Dobby popped out in front of them and gave them a sad look. “You’s be calling Master Harry?”

Dobby knew what was coming. He would grant Harry Potter’s third and final wish and then be banished back into the lamp until someone else came along and gave it a rub. It was the way it worked, after all. He knew that Harry had made a promise, but he’d heard that before. Many times. The master would be good and great and have every intention of wishing Dobby his freedom with their third wish, but wishes didn’t work like that. People wanted them for themselves, not for the good of someone else.

Dobby didn’t begrudge Harry or those other masters. It was a nice thought, but Dobby was quite sure that he would never be free.

“I know what my third wish is to be, Dobby” Master Harry said with a smile. He looked at Hermione and then back at Dobby.

“Very wells, then, Master Harry,” Dobby replied, wondering why Master Harry was playing coy.

“With my third and final wish, I wish that Dobby the Genie receive his freedom immediately!”

“Yes, Master Harry, coming right up,” Dobby said tonelessly, not having really listened to what his master had requested. It was probably going to be world peace or something knowing the Potters. The Potters had almost always used their wishes when he was in their possession to help their kingdom in some way. It had been a Potter’s wish that had gotten rid of the basilisks in the three kingdoms after nearly 200 years of terror.

Before he knew it, however, his magic started to feel funny. He looked down and saw that a golden glow had begun swirling around him and he had begun to get taller and taller. His skin was changing color as well.

Dobby looked up at where Harry and Hermione were standing watching a few feet away. They were grinning like fools, but Dobby didn’t care. Harry had done it! Harry had set him free! He was going to be his old self again! Dobby couldn’t believe it.

He was free! Dobby was free!

Harry watched as his little friend became not so little. When the magic ended a man stood before them. He was bare-chested, but at least had trousers on. He also had a really spectacular beard that Harry was immediately jealous of.

The man was at least six feet tall, had shocking white hair, and amazing blue eyes.

“D-dobby?” Harry ground out, shocked. He should have realized after what happened to Snape that genies started off as men. It hadn’t really occurred to him that Dobby had started off that way as well, but it made sense.

“Hello, Harry Potter. I’m quite glad to meet you. Your family was always kind to me when I was in their possession.”

“You-you you can talk!” Harry stuttered out, still in shock.

“Of course I can talk. That whole thing was just to have people underestimate me,” Dobby said with a grin.

Harry tried to collect himself. He glanced at Hermione and found that she was equally shocked. “I’m glad that you’re free, Dobby. We owe you so much.”

“You’re welcome, of course. I am glad I found a way around that evil Snape monster. If I hadn’t I fear that the end result wouldn’t have been near as happy.”

Harry nodded. “So true. Hey, what should we do with his lamp? The King said we should try to put it with the Gryffindor treasure, but I thought that it was destroyed.”

“No, the cave just makes people think that when they don’t follow the rules. But moving that lamp there is a good idea. Since your family controls that treasure, it would be safe there.”

“Okay. So what are your plans?”

Dobby grinned excitedly. “I’m going to see the world! I’ve always wanted to travel, you know! There are so many places that I haven’t seen. Thank you so much for freeing me! I didn’t think that I would ever get this chance.” Dobby dashed forward and hugged Harry and Hermione.

“I’m off!” Dobby said excitedly after he released them.

“I’ll miss you, Dobby,” Harry said a bit sadly. Dobby had become his friend in the short time they had known each other.

“Oh, lad, I’ll miss you too,” Dobby said, wiping a tear away. “But this isn’t goodbye. I’ll be back. I will definitely not miss seeing you become King, that’ll be a hoot! And the wedding! I’ll be here for that! And I’m sure you’ll name a kid after me, can’t miss that either!”

With that Dobby hugged them once more and then popped away, leaving Harry and Hermione looking at each other in amusement.

“Well, I guess he’s happy,” Harry said with a grin.

Hermione smiled back. “I think he is.”

“What about you, Princess. Are you happy?”

“Oh, Harry,” Hermione said, wrapping him in a hug. “I’m so very happy. I can’t wait to marry you.”

Harry smiled down at her and then kissed her softly. He finally had everything he needed in the world. He would never want for anything again as long as his Hermione was at his side.

**THE END.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end. Thanks for sticking it out! Reviews are welcome, though not about grammar and spelling. Pointing out the obvious is a waste of time.


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